Method of operating function and resource of electronic device

ABSTRACT

A portable communication device is provided. A communication connection is established with a first external device. A telephone call function using is deactivated, based at least in part on a determination that the portable communication device is communicatively coupled with the first external device and that a cellular communication circuitry of the first external device is available. While the telephone call function is deactivated, a telephone call is performed with respect to a second external device using the communication connection and a cellular communication between the first external device and the second external device. The cellular communication is established via the cellular communication circuitry of the first external device.

PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/037,583, filed in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice (USPTO) on Jul. 17, 2018, which is a Continuation Application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/629,022, filed in the USPTO on Feb.23, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,064,030, issued on Aug. 28, 2018, whichclaims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Korean Patent ApplicationNo. 10-2014-0021006 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office onFeb. 23, 2014, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a method of effectively usingfunctions and resources of electronic devices based on state informationof each electronic device in an environment in which a plurality ofelectronic devices interoperate with each other.

2. Description of the Related Art

As electronic devices providing various functions, for example,smartphones, are used more widely, the utilization areas may go beyondcommunication, multimedia, and e-banking and expand into the field ofthe Internet of Things (IoT), that is, network communications betweenpeople and things or things and things. Furthermore, communicationsbetween people and things or things and things via a mobilecommunication network such as Machine to Machine (M2M) or Machine TypeCommunication (MTC) provide useful information for living. Additionally,like smart homes or smart cars, services controlling homes or vehiclesand efficiently processing information based on electronic devicescontinue to increase.

The increase of such various networks and related services maximizes thefields of services that electronic devices provide, but as the numberand types of electronic devices that users use increase, this may resultin inefficient resource and power management. For example, when asmartphone and a tablet are used together, provided services, mountedmodules, or applications may often overlap. Additionally, there may be aperformance difference in mounted components according to electronicdevices. Thus, a user might not use a component having the bestperformance among electronic devices that the user owns.

SUMMARY

The present invention has been made to address the above-mentionedproblems and disadvantages, and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present inventionprovides a method of providing efficient resource and power managementby collecting each device related information, deactivating a specificfunction based on the information, and performing the deactivatedfunction through another device between a plurality of electronicdevices.

Another aspect of the invention provides a method of efficient resourceand power management by collecting information related to each device,determining an electronic device to perform a specific operation basedon the information, deactivating a specific function of a correspondingelectronic device, and performing the deactivated function via anotherdevice between a plurality of electronic devices.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a portablecommunication device is provided that includes a first communicationcircuitry to perform a short-range communication, a second communicationcircuitry to perform a cellular communication, and a processor. Theprocessor is configured to establish, via the first communicationcircuitry, a communication connection with a first external device. Theprocessor is also configured to deactivate a telephone call functionusing the second communication circuitry, based at least in part on adetermination that the portable communication device is communicativelycoupled with the first external device via the communication connectionand that a cellular communication circuitry of the first external deviceis available. The processor is further configured to, while thetelephone call function using the second communication circuitry isdeactivated, perform a telephone call with respect to a second externaldevice using the communication connection and a cellular communicationbetween the first external device and the second external device. Thecellular communication is established via the cellular communicationcircuitry of the first external device.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a portablecommunication device is provided that includes a touchscreen display, afirst communication circuitry to perform a short-range communication, asecond communication circuitry to perform a cellular communication, anda processor. The processor is configured to establish, via the firstcommunication circuitry, a communication connection with a firstexternal device. The processor is also configured to, based at least inpart on a determination that the portable communication device iscommunicatively coupled with the first external device via thecommunication connection, transmit a first signal to the first externaldevice via the communication connection such that a telephone callfunction using cellular communication circuitry of the first externaldevice is to be deactivated based at least in part on the first signal.The processor is further configured to, while the telephone callfunction using the cellular communication circuitry of the firstexternal device is deactivated, receive, from the first external devicevia the first communication circuitry, a second signal to make anoutgoing call from the first external device to a second externaldevice. The processor is also configured to establish, using the secondcommunication circuitry, a call session with respect to the secondexternal device such that the outgoing call is to be performed based atleast in part on the call session.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a systemfor portable communication is provided that includes a portable deviceand a wearable device. The portable device includes a firstcommunication circuitry to perform short-range communication, a secondcommunication circuitry to perform cellular communication, and aprocessor configured to establish, via the first communicationcircuitry, a communication connection with the wearable device. Thewearable device includes a third communication circuitry to performshort-range communication, a fourth communication circuitry to performcellular communication, and a processor. The processor is configured toestablish, via the third communication circuitry, the communicationconnection with the portable device. The processor is also configured todeactivate a telephone call function using the fourth communicationcircuitry of the wearable device, based at least in part on adetermination that the wearable device is communicatively coupled withthe portable device via the communication connection. The processor isfurther configured to, based at least in part on a determination thatthe communication connection between the wearable device and theportable device is established, perform a telephone call with respect toan external device using the communication connection and a cellularcommunication between the portable device and the external device. Thecellular communication is established via the second communicationcircuitry of the portable device.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure a portablecommunication device is provided that includes a first communicationcircuitry to perform a short-range communication, a second communicationcircuitry to perform a cellular communication, and a processor. Theprocessor is configured to establish, via the first communicationcircuitry, a communication connection with a first external device. Theprocessor is also configured to, based on a first determination that theportable communication device is communicatively coupled with the firstexternal device via the established communication connection, perform atelephone call with respect to a second external device using theestablished communication connection and a cellular communicationbetween the first external device and the second external device. Thecellular communication is established via the cellular communicationcircuitry of the first external device. The processor is furtherconfigured to, based on a second determination that the portablecommunication device is not communicatively coupled with the firstexternal device via the established communication connection, performthe telephone call with respect to the second external device using acellular communication between the portable communication device and thesecond external device. The cellular communication is established viathe second communication circuitry of the portable communication device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed description,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating hardware according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates communication protocols between a plurality ofelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a mutual connection of electronicdevices according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a connection process between devices for acommunication connection between an electronic device and anotherelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process of making a connection betweenelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates deactivation of a resource based on performance of acomponent in an electronic device according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a process of relaying a call between electronicdevices according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a process of changing an electronic device that isperforming a function according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a voice call process according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a process for forwarding a call received by a firstelectronic device to a second electronic device by using UnstructuredSupplementary Service Data (USSD) according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a process for forwarding a call received by a firstelectronic device to a second electronic device by using call deflectionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates a call forwarding or call deflection processdepending on a call type support of an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a data reception process according to service orcontent characteristics according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface screen according to an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 16A illustrates a method of transmitting a signal to a firstelectronic device and a second electronic device by using identificationinformation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16B illustrates a method of transmitting a signal on a firstelectronic device to a second electronic device by using identificationinformation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17A illustrates relaying a call of a second electronic device in afirst electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 17B illustrates relaying a call of a second electronic device in afirst electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate a mode changing method when a connectionbetween electronic devices is disconnected according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention are disclosedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. Various modifications arepossible in various embodiments of the present invention, whereembodiments are illustrated in drawings, and related detaileddescriptions are provided below. Thus, it is intended that the presentinvention covers modifications and variations of the present inventionthat are within the scope of the present invention, as defined in theappended claims and their equivalents. With respect to the descriptionsof the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements.

The terms “include,” “comprise,” and “have”, or “may include,” or “maycomprise” and “may have” used herein indicate disclosed functions,operations, or existence of elements but do not exclude other functions,operations or elements. The meaning of “include,” “comprise,”“including,” or “comprising,” specifies a property, a region, a fixednumber, a step, a process, an element and/or a component but does notexclude other properties, regions, fixed numbers, steps, processes,elements and/or components.

The meaning of the term “or” used herein includes any or allcombinations of the words connected by the term “or”. For instance, theexpression “A or B” includes A, B, or both A and B.

The terms such as “1st”, “2nd”, “first”, “second”, and the like usedherein refers to modifying various different elements of variousembodiments of the present invention, but do not limit the elements. Forinstance, such terms do not limit the order and/or priority of theelements. Furthermore, such terms are used to distinguish one elementfrom another element. For instance, both “a first user device” and “asecond user device” indicate a user device but indicate different userdevices from each other. For example, a first component may be referredto as a second component and vice versa without departing from the scopeand spirit of the present invention.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directlyconnected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are nointervening elements present.

Terms used in this specification are used to describe variousembodiments of the present invention, but are not intended to limit thescope of the present invention. The terms of a singular form includeplural forms unless they have a clearly different meaning in thecontext.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, all the terms used herein, whichinclude technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning that isgenerally understood by a person skilled in the art. In general, theterms defined in the dictionary should be considered to have the samemeaning as the contextual meaning of the related art, and, unlessclearly defined herein, should not be understood abnormally or as havingan excessively formal meaning.

Additionally, an electronic device according to an embodiment of thepresent invention is a device with a communication function. Forinstance, electronic devices may include at least one of smartphones,tablet Personal Computers (PCs), mobile phones, video phones, electronicbook (e-book) readers, desktop PCs, laptop PCs, netbook computers,Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Portable Multimedia Player (PMPs),Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) players, mobile medicaldevices, cameras, and wearable devices (e.g., Head-Mounted-Devices(HMDs) such as electronic glasses, electronic apparel, electronicbracelets, electronic necklaces, electronic accessories, electronictattoos, and smart watches).

An electronic device according to an embodiment of the present inventionmay be one of the above-mentioned various devices or a combinationthereof. Furthermore, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention isnot limited to the above-mentioned devices. Hereinafter, an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present invention isdescribed in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.The term “user” in various embodiments may refer to a person using anelectronic device or a device using an electronic device (for example,an artificial intelligent electronic device).

Hereinafter, an active state may refer to a state in which an electronicdevice, a component of an electronic device, or a function performed byan electronic device operates. For example, when an electronic device isactive, this may indicate that electrical power to the electronic deviceis in an ON state according to an embodiment of the present invention.However, according to another embodiment of the present invention, whenan electronic device is active, this may indicate that a locked state ofthe electronic device is released. For example, when a process or amodule (for example, a communication module, a module, and so forth) isin an active state, this may refer to a state in which electrical powerof a processor or a module is supplied, an enable state in which aprocessor or a module performs a task, or an awake state in which aprocessor or a module stands by to perform a task.

In this specification, an inactive state may refer to a state in whichan electronic device, a component of an electronic device, or a functionperformed by an electronic device is not in the active state. Forexample, when an electronic device is deactivated, this may indicatethat electrical power to the electronic device is in an OFF state or theelectronic device is in a locked state (that is, a state in which afunction cannot be performed). For example, when a processor or a moduleis in an inactive state, this may indicate a state in which anelectrical power supply of the processor or the module is disconnectedor is in a sleep state in which the processor or the module ceases tofunction until a control signal (for example, a wake up signal) issupplied.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device according toan embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic device 101 includes a bus 110, aprocessor 120, a memory 130, an input/output interface 140, a display150, and a communication interface 160.

The bus 110 is a circuit connecting the above-mentioned components toeach other and delivering a communication signal (for example, a controlmessage) therebetween.

The processor 120, for example, receives an instruction from the aboveother components (for example, the memory 130, the input/outputinterface 140, the display 150, or the communication interface 160) viathe bus 110, interprets the received instruction, and performsoperations and data processing in response to the interpretedinstruction.

The memory 130 stores an instruction or data received from the processor120 or other components (for example, the input/output interface 140,the display 150, or the communication interface 160) or an instructionor data generated from the processor 120 or other components. The memory130, for example, includes programming modules, for example, a kernel131, middleware 132, an Application Programming Interface (API) 133, andan application 134. Each of the above-mentioned programming modules maybe configured with software, firmware, hardware, or a combinationthereof.

The kernel 131 controls or manages system resources (for example, thebus 110, the processor 120, or the memory 130) used for performingoperations or functions implemented by the remaining other programmingmodules, for example, the middleware 132, the API 133, or theapplication 134. Additionally, the kernel 131 provides an interface foraccessing an individual component of the electronic device 101 from themiddleware 132, the API 133, or the application 134 and controlling ormanaging the individual component.

The middleware 132 serves as an intermediary for exchanging data betweenthe API 133 or the application 134 and the kernel 131 via communication.Additionally, in relation to job requests received from the plurality ofapplications 134, for example, the middleware 132 may perform loadbalancing for the job requests via a method of assigning a priority forusing a system resource (for example, the bus 110, the processor 120, orthe memory 130) of the electronic device 101 to at least one applicationamong the plurality of applications 120.

The API 133, as an interface through which the application 134 controlsa function provided from the kernel 131 or the middleware 132, mayinclude at least one interface or function for file control, windowcontrol, image processing, or character control.

The application 134 may include an Short Message Service/MultimediaMessaging Service (SMS/MMS) application, an e-mail application, acalendar application, an alarm application, a health care application(for example, an application for measuring an exercise amount or bloodsugar level), or an environmental information application (for example,an application for providing pressure, moisture, or temperatureinformation). Additionally, when there is an external electronic device(for example, a first external electronic device 102 or a secondexternal electronic device 104) communicating with the electronic device101, for example, the application 134 may include an applicationrelating to information exchange between the electronic device 101 andan external electronic device. For example, the application 134 mayinclude a notification relay application for delivering information toan external electronic device or a device management application formanaging an external electronic device. The notification relayapplication may include a function for delivering notificationinformation occurring in the electronic device 101 to an externalelectronic device. For example, the notification relay application mayhave a function for delivering to an external electronic device thenotification information occurring from another application (forexample, an SMS/MMS application, an e-mail application, a health careapplication, or an environmental information application). Additionally,the notification relay application may receive notification informationfrom an external electronic device. When there is an external electronicdevice communicating with the electronic device 101, the devicemanagement application manages the external electronic device orservices that the external electronic device provides.

The input/output interface 140 delivers a command or data from a user tothe processor 120 or the memory 130 via the bus 110. The display 150displays video, an image or data to a user.

The communication interface 160 establishes communication between theelectronic device 101 and the first external electronic device 102, thesecond external electronic device 104, or the server 164. Thecommunication interface 160 supports a predetermined short-rangecommunication protocol (for example, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi),Bluetooth (BT), Near Field Communication (NFC), and so forth), apredetermined network communication (for example, the Internet, a LocalArea Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a telecommunicationnetwork, a cellular network, a satellite network, or a Plain OldTelephone Service (POTS), and so forth), a wired communication protocol(for example, Universal Serial Bus (USB), High Definition MultimediaInterface (HDMI), and so forth). For example, the communication protocol(for example, a short-range communication protocol, a networkcommunication protocol, and a wired communication protocol) may besupported by at least one of the API 133 or the middleware 132. Each ofthe first external electronic devices 102 and the second externalelectronic device 104 may be identical (for example, the same type) toor different (for example, another type) from the electronic device 101.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating hardware 200 according to anembodiment of the present invention.

The hardware 200, for example, may configure all or part of theabove-mentioned electronic device 101 shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG.2, the hardware 200 includes at least one Application Processor (AP)210, a communication module 220, a Subscriber Identification Module(SIM) card 224, a memory 230, a sensor module 240, an input device 250,a display module 260, an interface 270, an audio module 280, a cameramodule 291, a power management module 295, a battery 296, an indicator297, and a motor 298.

The AP 210 may control a plurality of hardware or software componentsconnected to the AP 210 and also may perform various data processing andoperations with multimedia data by executing an operating system or anapplication program. The AP 210 may be implemented with a System on Chip(SoC), for example. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the AP 210 may further include a Graphic Processing Unit(GPU).

The communication module 220 (for example, the communication interface160) may perform data transmission through a communication between otherelectronic devices (for example, the electronic device 104 or the server106) connected to the electronic device 200 (for example, the electronicdevices 100) via a network. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the communication module 220 may include a cellular module221, a Wi-Fi module 223, a BT module 225, a GPS module 227, an NFCmodule 228, and a Radio Frequency (RF) module 229.

The cellular module 221 may provide voice calls, video calls, textservices, or internet services through a communication network (forexample, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE

Advanced (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA(WCDMA), Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS), Wireless Broadband(WiBro), or Global System for Mobile communication (GSM)). The cellularmodule 221 may perform an authentication operation on an electronicdevice in a communication network by using a SIM (for example, the SIMcard 224), for example. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the cellular module 221 may perform at least part of afunction that the AP 210 provides. For example, the cellular module 221may perform at least part of a multimedia control function.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cellularmodule 221 may further include a Communication Processor (CP).Additionally, the cellular module 221 may be implemented with SoC, forexample. As shown in FIG. 2, components such as the cellular module 221(for example, a CP), the memory 230, or the power management module 295are separated from the AP 210, but according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the AP 210 may be implemented including some of theabove-mentioned components (for example, the cellular module 221).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the AP 210 or thecellular module 221 (for example, a CP) may load instructions or data,which are received from a nonvolatile memory or at least one of othercomponents connected thereto, into a volatile memory and then mayprocess the instructions or data. Furthermore, the AP 210 or thecellular module 221 may store data received from or generated by atleast one of other components in a nonvolatile memory.

Each of the Wi-Fi module 223, the BT module 225, the GPS module 227, andthe NFC module 228 may include a processor for processing datatransmitted/received through a corresponding module. Although thecellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 223, the BT module 225, the GPSmodule 227, and the NFC module 228 are shown as separate blocks in FIG.2, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, some (forexample, at least two) of the cellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 223,the BT module 225, the GPS module 227, and the NFC module 228 may beincluded in one Integrated Circuit (IC) or an IC package. For example,at least some (for example, a CP corresponding to the cellular module221 and a Wi-Fi processor corresponding to the Wi-Fi module 223) of thecellular module 225, the Wi-Fi module 227, the BT module 228, the GPSmodule 221, and the NFC module 223 may be implemented with a single SoC.

The RF module 229 may be responsible for data transmission, for example,the transmission of an RF signal. Although not shown in the drawings,the RF module 229 may include a transceiver, a Power Amplifier Module(PAM), a frequency filter, or a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA). Additionally,the RF module 229 may further include components fortransmitting/receiving electromagnetic waves in a free space as awireless communication, for example, conductors or conducting wires.Although the cellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 223, the BT module225, the GPS module 227, and the NFC module 228 share one RF module 229shown in FIG. 2, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,at least one of the cellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 223, the BTmodule 225, the GPS module 227, and the NFC module 228 may perform thetransmission of an RF signal through an additional RF module.

The SIM card 224 is a card implementing a Subscriber IdentificationModule that is inserted into a slot formed at a position in anelectronic device, or embedded in an integrated circuit or chip in anelectronic device. Alternatively, without a physical form, SIMinformation may be stored in a part of an electronic device (forexample, electronic SIM, virtual SIM, or soft SIM). The SIM card 224includes unique identification information (for example, an IntegratedCircuit Card Identifier (ICCID)) or subscriber information (for example,an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)). The SIM card 224may operate in relation to the communication module 220.

The memory 230 may include an internal memory 232 or an external memory234. The memory 230 may be the memory 130 shown in FIG. 1. The internalmemory 232 includes at least one of a volatile memory (for example,Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Static RAM (SRAM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM))and a non-volatile memory (for example, One Time Programmable ROM(OTPROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable and Programmable ROM(EPROM), Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM (EEPROM), mask ROM,flash ROM, NAND flash memory, and NOR flash memory). According to anembodiment of the present invention, the internal memory 232 may be aSolid State Drive (SSD). The external memory 234 may further include aflash drive, for example, a Compact Flash (CF) drive, a Secure Digital(SD) drive, a Micro Secure Digital (Micro-SD) drive, a Mini SecureDigital (Mini-SD) drive, an extreme Digital (xD) drive, or a memorystick.

The sensor module 240 includes at least one of a gesture sensor 240A, agyro sensor 240B, a barometer sensor 240C, a magnetic sensor 240D, anacceleration sensor 240E, a grip sensor 240F, a proximity sensor 240G, aRed, Green, Blue (RGB) sensor 240H, a biological, or bio, sensor 240I, atemperature/humidity sensor 240J, an illumination sensor 240K, and anultra violet light (UV) sensor 240M. The sensor module 240 measuresphysical quantities or detects an operating state of an electronicdevice, thereby converting the measured or detected information intoelectrical signals. Additionally/alternately, the sensor module 240 mayinclude an Electronic nose (E-nose) sensor, an ElectroMyoGraphy (EMG)sensor, an ElectroEncephaloGram (EEG) sensor, an ElectroCardioGram (ECG)sensor, a PhotoPlethysmoGraphy (PPG) sensor, a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM)sensor, a perspiration sensor, or a fingerprint sensor. The sensormodule 240 further includes a control circuit for controlling at leastone sensor therein.

The input device 250 includes a touch panel 252, a (digital) pen sensor254, a key 256, or an ultrasonic input device 258. The input device 250may be the input/output interface 140 shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, thetouch panel 252 recognizes a touch input via at least one of acapacitive, a resistive, an infrared, or an ultrasonic method, forexample. Additionally, the touch panel 252 may further include acontroller. In the case of the capacitive method, both direct touch andproximity recognition are possible. The touch panel 252 may furtherinclude a tactile layer. In this case, the touch panel 252 provides atactile response to a user.

The (digital) pen sensor 254 may be implemented via a method similar oridentical to that of receiving a user's touch input or an additionalsheet for recognition. The key 256 includes a keypad or a touch key, forexample. The ultrasonic input device 258, as a device for checking databy detecting sound waves via a microphone or mic (for example, themicrophone 288) in a terminal, provides wireless recognition. Accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, the hardware 200 receives auser input from an external device (for example, a computer or a server)connected to the hardware 200 via the communication module 220.

The display 260 (for example, the display 150) may include a panel 262,a hologram device 264, or a projector 266. The panel 262, for example,may include a Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD) or an Active-Matrix OrganicLight-Emitting Diode (AM-OLED). The panel 262 may be implemented to beflexible, transparent, or wearable, for example. The panel 262 and thetouch panel 252 may be configured with one module. The hologram 264 mayshow three-dimensional images in the air by using the interference oflight. The projector 266 may display an image by projecting light on ascreen. The screen, for example, may be placed inside or outside theelectronic device 200. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the display 260 may further include a control circuit forcontrolling the panel 262, the hologram device 264, or the projector266.

The interface 270 includes a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)272, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) 274, an optical interface 276, or aD-subminiature (D-sub) connector 278, for example.Additionally/alternately, the interface 270 may include a Secure Digital(SD) card/Multi-Media Card (MMC) or an Infrared Data Association (IrDA).

The audio module 280 converts sound and electrical signals in bothdirections. The audio module 280 converts sound informationinputted/outputted via a speaker 282, a receiver 284, an earphone 286,or a microphone 288.

The camera module 291, as a device for capturing images and videos,includes at least one image sensor (for example, a front lens or a rearlens), an Image Signal Processor (ISP), or a flash Light Emitting Diode(LED).

The power management module 295 manages the electrical power consumptionof the hardware 200. The power management module 295 includes a PowerManagement Integrated Circuit (PMIC), a charger Integrated Circuit (IC),a battery gauge, for example.

The PMIC may be built into an IC or an SoC semiconductor, for example. Acharging method is classified as a wired method or a wireless method.The charger IC charges a battery and prevents overvoltage or overcurrentflow from a charger. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the charger IC includes a charger IC for at least one of awired charging method or a wireless charging method. For the wirelesscharging method, for example, there is a magnetic resonance method, amagnetic induction method, or an electromagnetic method. An additionalcircuit for wireless charging, for example, a circuit such as a coilloop, a resonance circuit, or a rectifier circuit, may be added.

The battery gauge measures the amount of electrical power in the battery296, or a voltage, current, or temperature of the battery 296 duringcharging. The battery 296 may generate electricity and supply electricalpower, where the battery 296 may be a rechargeable battery, for example.

The indicator 297 displays a state of the hardware 200 or part thereof(for example, the AP 210), for example, a booting state, a messagestate, or a charging state. For example, the indicator 297 may display abooting state, a message state, or a charging state. The motor 298converts electrical signals into mechanical vibration. The hardware 200may include a processing device (for example, a GPU) for mobile TVsupport. A processing device for mobile TV support processes media dataaccording to a standard such as Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB),Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), or media flow.

Each of the above-mentioned components of hardware according to anembodiment of the present invention may be configured with at least onecomponent, and the name of a corresponding component may vary accordingto the kind of electronic device. Hardware according to an embodiment ofthe present invention may be configured to include at least one of theabove-mentioned components or other components. Additionally, somecomponents of hardware according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may be combined and configured as one entity, so thatfunctions of previous corresponding components are performedidentically.

FIG. 3 illustrates communication protocols between a plurality ofelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the communicationprotocols 300 include a device discovery protocol 331, a capabilityexchange protocol 333, a network protocol 335, and an applicationprotocol 337.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the devicediscovery protocol 331 is a protocol for detecting a communicableexternal electronic device or connecting to an external electronicdevice.

Referring to FIG. 3, for example, a first electronic device 310 detectsa communicable second electronic device 320 via an availablecommunication method (for example, Wi-Fi, BT, USB, and so forth) byusing the device discovery protocol 331. By using the device discoveryprotocol 331, the first electronic device 310 identifies the detectedsecond electronic device 320 and then stores identification informationof the second electronic device 320. By using the device discoveryprotocol 331, the first electronic device 310 is connected to thedetected second electronic device 320. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, the device discovery protocol 331 is a protocol formutual authentication between a plurality of electronic devices. Forexample, the electronic device 310 performs an authentication betweenthe first electronic device 310 and the second electronic device 320 byusing communication information for connecting to the identified secondelectronic device 320.

The capability exchange protocol 333 is a protocol for exchangingfunctions of a supportable service. For example, information relating tofunctions of services supported by the first electronic device 310 andthe second electronic device 320 are exchanged via the capabilityexchange protocol 333. For example, the information related to afunction of a service includes information for distinguishing theservice. For example, when receiving information for distinguishing theservice from the second electronic device 320, the first electronicdevice 310 determines whether to support the service by using thereceived information.

The network protocol 335 is a protocol for controlling a data flow forservice connection between connected electronic devices. For example,the network protocol 335 is a protocol for controlling the flow of datafor providing a data service between the first electronic device 310 andthe second electronic device 320. For example, by using the networkprotocol 335, error control and data quality control is performed.Additionally, by using the network protocol 335, the first electronicdevice 310 manages at least one session for data exchange.

The application protocol 337 is a protocol for providing a service to anexternal electronic device. For example, a service is provided from thefirst electronic device 310 to the second electronic device 320 via theapplication protocol 337. For example, the application protocol 337includes a procedure or information for exchanging data relating to aservice between the first electronic device 310 providing the serviceand the second electronic device 320 using the service.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the communicationprotocols 300 includes a standard communication protocol, acommunication protocol (for example, a communication protocol for eachentity) selected by an individual or organization, or a combinationthereof.

The term “module” used in the present disclosure, for example, may referto a unit including a combination of at least one of hardware, software,and firmware. The term “module” and the terms “unit”, “logic”, “logicalblock”, “component”, or “circuit” may be used interchangeably. “Module”may be a minimum unit or part of an integrally configured component.“Module” may be a minimum unit performing at least one function or partthereof “Module” may be implemented mechanically or electronically. Forexample, “module” used in the present disclosure may include at leastone of an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) performingcertain operations, a Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), or aprogrammable-logic device, which are presently known or may be developedin the future.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, at least part of adevice (for example, modules or functions thereof) or a method (forexample, operations) according to the present disclosure, for example,as in a form of a programming module, may be implemented using aninstruction stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.When at least one processor (for example, the application processor 210)executes an instruction, it performs a function corresponding to theinstruction. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium mayinclude the memory 230, for example. At least part of a programmingmodule may be implemented (for example, executed) by the applicationprocessor 210, for example. At least part of a programming module mayinclude a module, a program, a routine, sets of instructions, or aprocess to perform at least one function, for example.

A programming module according to an embodiment of the present inventionincludes at least one of the above-mentioned components or additionalother components. Alternatively, some programming modules may beomitted. Operations performed by a programming module or othercomponents according to an embodiment of the present invention may beexecuted via a sequential, parallel, repetitive or heuristic method.Additionally, some operations may be executed in a different order ormay be omitted. Or, other operations may be added.

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may include amagnetic medium such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, and a magnetic tape,an optical medium such as a Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and aDigital Versatile Disc (DVD), a magneto-optical medium such as afloptical disk, and a hardware device configured to store and perform aprogram instruction (for example, a programming module) such as a ReadOnly Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), and a flash memory.Additionally, a program instruction may include high-level language codeexecutable by a computer using an interpreter in addition to machinecode created by a complier. The hardware device may be configured tooperate as at least one software module to perform an operation of thepresent disclosure and vice versa.

A module of a programming module according to an embodiment of thepresent invention may include at least one of the above-mentionedcomponents or additional other components. Or, some programming modulesmay be omitted. Operations performed by a module, a programming module,or other components according to an embodiment of the present inventionmay be executed via a sequential, parallel, repetitive or heuristicmethod. Additionally, some operations may be executed in a differentorder or may be omitted. Alternatively, other operations may be added.

Also, embodiments shown in the specification and drawings are providedas examples to describe technical content and help understanding, but donot limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it should beinterpreted that besides the embodiments of the present invention listedherein, all modifications or modified forms derived based on thetechnical ideas of the present invention are included within the scopeof the present invention, as defined by the appended claims and theirequivalents.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a mutual connection of electronicdevices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a first electronic device 410 and a secondelectronic device 430 are connected to each other via wireless pairing.Or, the first electronic device 410 and the second electronic device 430may be connected to each other via a wireless/air interface (forexample, via Wi-Fi or a cellular network). The first electronic device410 and the second electronic device 430 may be configured in variousembodiments of the present invention. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, the first electronic device 410 and the secondelectronic device 430 may be understood as a main electronic device andan auxiliary electronic device, respectively. In more detail, the mainelectronic device (for example, the first electronic device 410) may bea smartphone and the auxiliary electronic device (for example, thesecond electronic device 430) may be a smart watch. According to anembodiment of the present invention, the main electronic device may bean electronic device having at least high performance or high capacityin comparison to the auxiliary electronic device. According to anembodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary electronic device maybe a portable wearable electronic device such as Galaxy Gear™ or GoogleGlass™. However, according to an embodiment of the present invention,there may be several criteria to distinguish main and auxiliary and themain electronic device in various embodiments may function as theauxiliary electronic device in other embodiments. For example, when auser directly controls a smartphone and indirectly controls a tablet viathe smartphone, the smartphone may be understood as the main electronicdevice and the tablet may be understood as the auxiliary electronicdevice (even when the performance or capacity of the tablet is muchbetter). However, in the contrary case, that is, when a user directlycontrols a tablet and indirectly controls a smartphone, the mainelectronic device becomes the tablet and the auxiliary electronic devicemay be the smartphone. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the auxiliary electronic device connected to the mainelectronic device may be specified by a user or configured.

The first electronic device 410 includes at least one of a processor411, a sensor hub 412, a memory 413, a wireless communication module414, an input module 415, a display 416, a magnetic sensor (e.g., acompass) 417, an acceleration sensor (e.g. an accelerometer) 418, a gyrosensor (e.g. a gyroscope) 419, a speaker 420, and a vibration unit 421.The shown configuration is exemplary and the electronic device 410 mayfurther selectively include some components included in the electronicdevice 101 or the hardware 200 shown in FIG. 1 or 2.

Among components of the first electronic device 410, the processor 411may be understood as a first control module (or a main processor module)and the sensor hub 412 may be understood as a second control module (oran auxiliary processor module). A plurality of sensors (for example, themagnetic sensor 417, the acceleration sensor 418, and the gyro sensor419) may be separately connected to the sensor hub 412 with respect tothe processor 411. Accordingly, sensors may operate regardless of astate of the processor 411 (for example, when the processor 411 is in asleep state). According to an embodiment of the present invention, whenit is impossible or inappropriate for the sensor hub 412 to process dataobtained from the sensors, the sensor hub 412 may request the processor411 to process the data. In this case, when the processor 411 is in asleep state (or in a deactivated state), a wake up signal or a signalsimilar thereto (for example, a request signal) is transmitted to theprocessor 411.

The sensor hub 412 controls the sensors, the sensor hub 412 does notlimit a control target to the sensors in terms of the auxiliary controlmodule or the second control module. For example, the sensor hub 412 maydirectly process some of the signals (for example, RF signals receivedvia a BT antenna) received from the wireless communication module 414 ormay transmit a request to the processor 411 for signal processing.According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sensor hub 412may be understood as serving a “hub” role to relay between other variouscomponents included in the processor 411 and the first electronic device410. A solid line representing a connection relationship or a controlrelationship between shown components is exemplary and may be logicallymodified without limitation.

The second electronic device 430 includes at least one of a processor431, a sensor hub 432, a memory 433, a wireless communication module434, an input module 435, a display 436, a bio sensor 437, a magneticsensor 438, an acceleration sensor 439, a gyro sensor 440, a speaker441, and a vibration unit 442. The shown configuration is exemplary andthe second electronic device 430 may further selectively include somecomponents included in the electronic device 101 or the hardware 200shown in FIG. 1 or 2. Although it is shown in FIG. 4 that the secondelectronic device 430 further includes the bio sensor 437 in comparisonto the first electronic device 410, this is not understood as limitingthe configuration of the second electronic device 430. The shown exampleshould be understood that the second electronic device 430 includescomponents (for example, the processor 431, the sensor hub 432, and thewireless communication module 434) corresponding to the first electronicdevice 410 and may include additional components (for example, the biosensor 437). In an embodiment of the present invention, somecorresponding configurations among the components of the firstelectronic device 410 may be omitted from the second electronic device430. For example, the sensor hub 432 may be omitted from the secondelectronic device 430. In this case, sensors (for example, the biosensor 437, the magnetic sensor 438, the acceleration sensor 439, andthe gyro sensor 440) may be directly controlled by the processor 431.Or, for example, when the sensor hub 432 is omitted from the secondelectronic device 430, sensors (for example, the bio sensor 437, themagnetic sensor 438, the acceleration sensor 439, and the gyro sensor440 or some other sensors) of the second electronic device 430 may becontrolled and/or processed by the processor 411 (or the sensor hub 412)in the first electronic device 410.

The first electronic device 410 and the second electronic device 430 maybe connected to each other via their respective wireless communicationmodules 414 and 434 and may exchange data after forming a pairing state.In this specification, “pairing” or “pairing state” may refer to a statein which at least two electronic devices are mutually connected to eachother via wired/wireless communication. Pairing may be formed viawireless communication using an electronic device as a destination viaaccess information of each electronic device such as a Media AccessControl (MAC) address but may include a temporary connection state via abroadcasting or advertising message such as a beacon message.Additionally, the pairing state may include a connection state based oninformation for identifying a user such as a user account, for example,a Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) or manufacturers account identifier(ID), a cloud server ID, an International Mobile Subscriber Identity(IMSI), a mobile subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)number or a Mobile Station international ISDN (MSISDN) number, anInternational Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) or an Internet Protocol(IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Public User (IMPU) identity used in IMSbased service, an IMS Private User Identity (IMPI), an IP addressallocated to a device on a certain network, a user based account used inan electronic device or a certain application, bio-metric information,or a separator having a property for allowing bi-directionalcommunication according to a communication bearer.

In the present invention, an interoperating state may refer to a statein which functions or information of at least two electronic devices(for example, a smart watch and a smartphone) are shared in the pairingstate. As another example, even when functions or information of atleast two electronic devices are not shared, when functions orcomponents of the at least two electronic devices perform activation,deactivation, or substitution operations, the at least two electronicdevices are understood as being in an interoperating state. For example,in the case where two devices are communication-connected in any formmay be understood as a pairing state, and in the case where two devicesaffect an operation or a function in any form may be understood as beingin an interoperating state. For example, an interoperating state mayoccur absent a pairing state (as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12). When a firstelectronic device transmits a message (for example, UnstructuredSupplementary Service Data (USSD)) for call forwarding to a network anda communication signal using the first electronic device as adestination is provided to a second electronic device based on themessage on the network, although the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device are not directly connected to each other (it isregarded that they are indirectly connected via a communicationnetwork), they are understood as being in an interoperating state.

For example, while the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice are in a pairing state, if a first function of the firstelectronic device is performed in the second electronic device insteadof in the first electronic device, among at least two tasks availablefor the first function of the first electronic device, when some tasksare performed in the first electronic device and the remaining tasks areperformed in the second electronic device, this may refer to a state inwhich a synchronization operation is available by a user accountcorresponding to the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice.

As another example, while the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device are in a pairing state, if the first function of thefirst electronic device is performed in the second electronic deviceinstead of in the first electronic device, all or some of the tasks ofthe first function of the first electronic device may be performed inthe first electronic device. In this case, an interoperating state mayrefer to a state in which the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device may operate by using a predefined protocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, a conceptualdiagram corresponding to a configuration of a portable terminal such asa smartphone is illustrated, but a main electronic device (for example,the first electronic device) may correspond to a smart home hub, amanufacturer server (for example, a Samsung server, a Samsung appserver, and an iTunes store server), a business server (for example, aGoogle Play Store server or an AT&T telecommunications carrier server),or a mobile server in addition to a smartphone (or a similar mobiledevice). Additionally, an auxiliary electronic device (for example, thesecond electronic device) may include a smart watch, a smart car, atablet, a Machine to Machine/Machine Type Communications (M2M/MTC)device, a Device to Device (D2D) device, an Internet of Things (IoT)device, or a smartphone.

FIG. 5 illustrates a connection process between devices for acommunication connection between an electronic device and anotherelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320 are connected to each other.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronicdevice may be found in operation 510. For example, the first electronicdevice 310 may find the second electronic device 320 by using aBluetooth Low Energy (BLE) scan. Once the second electronic device 320is found, the first electronic device 310 establishes a (security)connection between the first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320. During connection establishment, according to acommunication method used for making a connection, a connection channelmay be set between the first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320. The first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320 connected in operation 510 may be understood asbeing in the above-mentioned pairing state.

Once a connection is established, information on functions performed ineach electronic device or information on functions relating to eachelectronic device may be exchanged (which may be referred to as acapability exchange). According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the electronic device 310 provides information on the firstelectronic device 310 to the second electronic device 320 in operation520. Alternatively, the second electronic device 320 may provideinformation on the second electronic device 320 to the first electronicdevice 310 in operation 520.

Information relating to an electronic device (for example, informationrelating to the first electronic device 310) may include functionssupported by an electronic device (for example, a service function) andnetwork connection types/states. For example, the first electronicdevice 310 may include information on whether Wi-Fi or cellularcommunication support is available in the first electronic device 310.Furthermore, the information relating to an electronic device mayinclude a network connection state (e.g. On/Off) of each (wireless)communication module (for example, BT, Wi-Fi, cellular, and so forth).The information on an electronic device may include an amount ofremaining battery power, a network (wireless communication) connectionstate, SIM information on an electronic device, an IP address, network(wireless communication) identification information such as MAC address,types of sensors (for example, a position sensor, a gesture sensor, agyro sensor, a pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an accelerationsensor, a grip sensor, a proximity sensor, an RGB sensor, a bio sensor,a temperature/humidity sensor, an illumination sensor, a UV lightsensor, an e-nose sensor, an EMG sensor, an EEG sensor, an ECG sensor, aPPG sensor, or a fingerprint sensor) mounted in an electronic device,On/Off information of each sensor, and types of information (forexample, GPS/position information, altitude, speed, intensity,brightness, temperature, and so forth) obtained or obtainable fromvarious sensors. Additionally, the information on an electronic devicemay include information on the performance of a processor (for example,a processor 120, an application processor 210, a processor 411, or aprocessor 431) mounted in an electronic device, the capacity of a memorymounted in an electronic device, information on bandwidth, informationon the characteristics of an antenna mounted in an electronic device,information on the performance (pixel rating) of a camera mounted in anelectronic device, and information on a communication method (forexample, 3^(rd) Generation (3G), 4^(th) Generation/Long Term Evolution(4G/LTE), and so forth) that an electronic device supports.

In operation 530, the first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320 are connected to, or interoperate with, eachother. For example, based on function information exchanged with thesecond electronic device 320, the first electronic device 310 maydeactivate a specified function/module therein that is performable inthe second electronic device 320 while maintaining a connection statewith the second electronic device 320. For example, while maintaining aconnection state with the second electronic device 320 based on functioninformation exchanged with the second electronic device 320, the firstelectronic device 310 may deactivate a specified function/module thereinthat is performable in the second electronic device 320. For example,when the first electronic device 310 is a smartphone and the secondelectronic device 320 is a smart watch, a call function may be availablevia a communication network in both the smartphone and the smart watch.In this case, as the call function of the smart watch is delegated tothe smartphone, a communication module of the smart watch may bedeactivated.

As another example, the first electronic device 310 may be a smartphoneand the second electronic device 320 may be telematics or otherelectronic devices for a vehicle mounted in a smart car. In anembodiment of the present invention, although both the smartphone andthe electronic device for a vehicle include a position recognitionmodule (for example, a position sensor or a GPS module), the locationrecognition module of the electronic device for the vehicle may haverelatively greater accuracy. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, position recognition modules in the smartphone and theelectronic device for a vehicle have similar performance but the amountof remaining battery power of the smartphone may be low (for example,less than 20%). Such information may be exchanged in operation 520 andmay be shared by both electronic devices. The first electronic device310 (for example, a smartphone) may deactivate a position recognitionmodule included in the first electronic device 310 and may use positioninformation received from the second electronic device 320 (for example,an electronic device for a vehicle). In an embodiment of the presentinvention, as the first electronic device 310 and the second electronicdevice 320 share a resource (for example, HardWare (HW) and/or SoftWare(SW) modules/functions) or information, an overall efficiencyimprovement (for example, the battery consumption reduction of anelectronic device of which a function/module is deactivated) betweenelectronic devices may be obtained.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an overlappingresource (e.g., function, sensor, and so forth) included ininteroperated devices (e.g., the first electronic device 310 and thesecond electronic device 320) may be selectively managed or usedaccording to a condition or state of the interoperated devices. Theresource may include both a hardware resource and a software resource.For example, the resource may include a sensor (for example, a positionsensor/GPS, a gesture sensor, a gyro sensor, a pressure sensor, amagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a grip sensor, a proximitysensor, an RGB sensor, a bio sensor, a temperature/humidity sensor, anillumination sensor, a UV light sensor, an e-nose sensor, an EMG sensor,an EEG sensor, an ECG sensor, a PPG sensor, or a fingerprint sensor), acommunication module (for example, a communication modem, acommunication processor (CP), a Wi-Fi modem, a BT modem, an antenna, andso forth), an application processor (AP), a GPU, an ISP, and a camerasensor/processor.

For example, in an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4,when the performance of the processor 431 in the second electronicdevice 430 is relatively greater than that of the processor 411 in thefirst electronic device 410 or greater than a reference value (or areference ratio), functions of the processor 431 are identical orsimilar to functions of the processor 411, or a state/condition (forexample, a battery state) of the second electronic device 430 isrelatively good, the first electronic device 410 may allow the processor411 to enter a deactivation state (or a low power and sleep state) andmay then transmit information/data collected via a sensor (for example,the magnetic sensor 417, the acceleration sensor 418, and the gyrosensor 419) to the second electronic device 430 via the wirelesscommunication module 414 by using the sensor hub 412. The secondelectronic device 430 may process the information/data received via thewireless communication module 434 by using the processor 431.Furthermore, the second electronic device 430 may provide the processedinformation/data to the first electronic device 410 via the wirelesscommunication module 434. The first electronic device 410 may receive adata processing result and may then display it on the display 416.

According to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 5, anadditional operation according to the deactivation of a function/moduleof the first electronic device 310 may be requested from at least one ofthe first electronic device 310 and the second electronic device 320.For example, when a function (for example, a voice call) is deactivatedin the first electronic device 310, another electronic device (forexample, the second electronic device 320) in an interoperating state(or a pairing/connection state) with the first electronic device 310 mayperform the specific function of the first electronic device 310 insteadof the first electronic device 310. When deactivating a function, thefirst electronic device 310 may perform an operation (for example, avoice call) corresponding to the function in the second electronicdevice 320 and then may provide command or control information forproviding a corresponding result to the first electronic device 310 (forexample, voice data transmission via the connection established inoperation 520), to the second electronic device 320.

In operation 540, a pairing or interoperating state may be maintainedcontinuously or changed. For example, although a battery state of thesecond electronic device 320 may be better than a battery state of thefirst electronic device 310 when the electronic devices enter aninteroperating state (for example, operation 530), as the specifiedfunction of the first electronic device 310 is deactivated and acorresponding function is performed by the second electronic device 320,the battery situations of the first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320 may be reversed. The first electronic device 310may realize or receive various status of such an interoperating secondelectronic device 320 periodically or when an event (for example, anotification message for a battery state) or a request occurs. Accordingto the information detected by the first electronic device 310, afunction performed by the second electronic device 320 instead of thefirst electronic device 310 may be performed by the first electronicdevice 310 again and accordingly, a deactivated module in the firstelectronic device 310 may be activated.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the firstelectronic device 310 (for example, a main electronic device) and thesecond electronic device 320 (for example, an auxiliary electronicdevice such as a smart watch) interoperate with each other (for example,operation 530), a communication module (for example, a CP operating fora communication modem or a cellular network) of the first electronicdevice 310 may be used for a communication means of the secondelectronic device 320. In this case, the communication module mounted inthe second electronic device 320 may be disabled for resource efficiencyor battery saving. Additionally, the communication module may be anothercommunication module other than the communication modem or acommunication module used for pairing. For example, a communicationmodule in pairing, detected by the second electronic device 320, is BTand in this case, a communication module relating to Wi-Fi may bedisabled. According to various embodiments, when the intensity of asignal received from the first electronic device 310 is weaker than apredetermined value (Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)<apredefined reference value), a battery state of the first electronicdevice 310 is less than a certain value, the first electronic device 310executes an application (for example, video playback, recording, games,and so forth), a communication modem of the first electronic device 310starts to be used for the first electronic device 310, or a specifiednotification is provided from the first electronic device 310, aconnection state or a resource state of an electronic device may bechanged. For example, a communication modem or a CP of the secondelectronic device 320 may be activated (e.g. operated).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the firstelectronic device 310 (for example, a main electronic device) and thesecond electronic device 320 (for example, an auxiliary electronicdevice) are connected to each other, the first electronic device 310 maydeactivate (or reactivate) a function/resource of the second electronicdevice 320. In this case, the first electronic device 310 may operate afunction/resource of the first electronic device 310 corresponding to afunction/resource deactivated in the second electronic device 320. Inanother embodiment of the present invention, when the first electronicdevice 310 and the second electronic device 320 are in a pairing state,the first electronic device 310 may deactivate its specifiedfunction/resource and may then request the second electronic device 320to allow a corresponding function/resource of the second electronicdevice 320 to operate instead.

In operation 550, the first electronic device 310 and the secondelectronic device 320 are disconnected. The first electronic device 310continuously monitors state information of the first electronic device310 or the second electronic device 320 and sets a disconnectioncondition. For example, when a battery of an electronic device becomeslower than a predetermined level or the intensity of a signal (forexample, an RSSI) received from the second electronic device 320 fallsbelow a predetermined value as a distance between the first electronicdevice 310 and the second electronic device 320 increases, theconnection is released. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, while the first electronic device 310 (for example, asmartphone) is connected to the second electronic device 320 (forexample, an electronic device for a vehicle), when it is detected that auser of the first electronic device 310 exits a vehicle (for example,the detection of vehicle start-up OFF and vehicle door opening/closing),the connection may be released. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, when a predetermined connection time lapses, theconnection may be released. When the connection is released, a functiontransferred between devices may be returned to an original state (forexample, the activation of a deactivated function after transfer).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process of making a connection betweenelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a first electronicdevice searches for a second electronic device in operation 610. Thefirst electronic device may search for the second electronic device viaa wireless communication such as BT, BLE, Zigbee, IrDA, InfraRed LED(IRLED), Advanced and adaptive Network Technology Plus (ANT+), Wi-Fi,and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802standard. Additionally, the first electronic device may search for thesecond electronic device based on an identification (ID), such as a useraccount. For example, a user may manage various devices, for example,smartphones, tablets, smart watches, laptop PCs, smart cameras, smartTVs, smart cars, by using one user account. When the first electronicdevice attempts to interoperate with another electronic device based onthe user account of the first electronic device, it may be checked thatan electronic device included in a list obtained by user accountinformation is connectible by the first electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, whether the secondelectronic device is found is determined in operation 620. If the secondelectronic device is found (e.g. discovered), the process proceeds tooperation 630. If the second electronic device is not found, the processproceeds to operation 610 and performs a search operation continuously.However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, if thesecond electronic device is not found for a predetermined time, theprocess may be terminated.

In operation 630, the first electronic device establishes a connectionwith the found second electronic device. The connection may beestablished via a wireless communication such as BT, BLE, Zigbee, IrDA,IRLED, ANT+, Wi-Fi, IEEE 802, 3G, and LTE. However, according to anembodiment of the present invention, for example, when a smartphone isconnected by wire to a desktop PC, a smartphone is connected to a smartwatch, or a smartphone or a smart watch is connected by wire to anelectronic device for a vehicle, the connection may be established usinga wired connection (for example, via LAN and USB communication).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the firstelectronic device may receive information from the second electronicdevice in operation 640. In operation 640, the first electronic devicemay provide information thereon to the second electronic device. Inoperation 640, information transmission between electronic devices maybe performed via a server.

According to various embodiments, in operation 650, the first electronicdevice may deactivate a specified function thereof based on information(for example, a command on specified function performance or a signalfor notifying that devices are connected to each other) received from atleast a second electronic device. Herein, a specified function may be afunction that is possible to be performed by the second electronicdevice, and that increases the reliability of a performance result,improves the power management efficiency of an electronic device, ormatches a user's intention. The first electronic device may perform anadditional operation to allow a deactivated function to be performed bythe second electronic device. For example, when a communication modem ofthe first electronic device is OFF and a voice call is performed byusing a communication modem of the second electronic device, a BT voicechannel is activated between the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device. Then, voice data received by the second electronicdevice is transmitted to the first electronic device and voice input viaa mic (e.g. microphone) of the first electronic device is transmitted tothe second electronic device via the BT voice channel. Thus, the voicecall is continued. Or, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a function of the second electronic device may be deactivatedin the above case (after operation 640). Accordingly, the aboveappropriate operation may occur in the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, whether the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device are disconnected maybe determined in operation 660. For example, when the intensity of asignal falls below a predetermined reference value as a distance betweenthe first electronic device and the second electronic device increases,or when a battery state of the second electronic device deteriorates, orby a user input, the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice may be disconnected. When the disconnection occurs, the processproceeds to operation 670 and when the connection is maintainedcontinuously, an interoperating state may be maintained continuously.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device are disconnected, thefirst electronic device may reactivate a deactivated function inoperation 670. Furthermore, the first electronic device may release alladditional operations for performing a corresponding function in thesecond electronic device. Furthermore, the first electronic device mayretrieve information provided to the second electronic device or mayrequest the deletion of information in order to perform a function.

FIG. 7 illustrates deactivation of a resource (for example, acommunication modem) based on the performance of a component in anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an interoperationof a first electronic device (for example, the first electronic device310) and a second electronic device (for example, the second electronicdevice 320) may be established in operation 710. Operation 710corresponds to operation 610 to 630 in FIG. 6. In FIG. 7, in operation710, the first electronic device transmits a message requestinginformation to the second electronic device. For example, the firstelectronic device transmits a message requesting the performance orversion information on a communication module (for example, acommunication modem) mounted in the second electronic device,information on an amount of battery power remaining of the secondelectronic device, or SIM information (for example, an amount ofremaining free call or free data) when the second electronic deviceincludes a SIM.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, operation 710 maybe performed based on a user account. For example, the first electronicdevice may obtain information of the interoperable second electronicdevice (for example, a list of devices using the same user account orconnected user account) by using the user account information of thefirst electronic device. The first electronic device may search whetherthe second electronic device is within a searchable range of at leastone communication module (for example, BT) of the first electronicdevice. When a second electronic device is within a searchable range ofthe first electronic device, the process proceeds to operation 720. Whenthe second electronic device is not within a range in which the secondelectronic device is connectable via a short-range network (for example,BT, BLE, NFC, IrDA, and so forth), for example, the first electronicdevice may perform a function (for example, the reception of an incomingcall to the second electronic device) of the second electronic device ina different way, which is described below.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the secondelectronic device checks a state of a resource included therein inoperation 720.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the secondelectronic device provides the checked resource state to the firstelectronic device in operation 730. For example, information on theperformance or version of a communication modem functionally connectedto the second electronic device may be provided. According to anembodiment of the present invention, the modem may support both callservice and data service or may support only data service according to adevice.

In operation 740, the first electronic device compares a resource stateof the first electronic device and a state of the second electronicdevice. For example, the first electronic device may compare theperformance information on the communication modem of the firstelectronic device with that of the second electronic device or maycompare the amount of battery power remaining in the first electronicdevice with that of the second electronic device.

If it is determined in operation 750 that a resource state of the firstelectronic device is better than a resource state of the secondelectronic device, the process proceeds to operation 760. If it isdetermined that the resource state of the first electronic device is notbetter than the resource state of the second electronic device, thefirst electronic device may not perform an operation for relaying afunction of the second electronic device.

In operation 760, the first electronic device provides a deactivation(for example, communication modem OFF or disable) command or message ofthe second electronic device to the second electronic device. When thecommand or message is received by the second device, the secondelectronic device deactivates the communication modem of the secondelectronic device and delivers (for example, call forwarding) a call forthe second electronic device to the first electronic device.

For example, the average power consumption of a wireless communicationis 1.4 mW to 2 mW in the case of BT 4.0, 120 mW in the case of Wi-Fi,800 mW in the case of a 3G network, and 1080 mW in the case of an LTEnetwork. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when asmartphone (e.g., the first electronic device) and a smart watch (e.g.,the second electronic device) are connected via BT or BLE communication,in order for the efficiency of a resource, the communication modem of asmart watch having a small battery capacity is turned off and the modemof the smartphone may be used instead of the communication modem of thesmart watch.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when each of thefirst electronic device and the second electronic device includes a SIMand has a different phone number (i.e., 2 SIMs—2 phone numbers), as thecommunication module of the second electronic device is deactivated, thesecond electronic device generates Unstructured Supplementary ServicesData (USSD) and transmits it to a network, so that call forwarding maybe provided to a device having a turned-on modem (for example, the firstelectronic device). According to an embodiment of the present invention,a device (for example, the second electronic device) deactivating acommunication module may automatically forward a call to a device (forexample, the first electronic device) having an activated communicationmodule.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, although eachdevice includes a SIM but has the same phone number (i.e., 2 SIMs—1phone number), when a call is made to a corresponding phone number, acarrier network checks the identifiers (IDs) of the devices mapped tothe phone number and provides paging to both SIMs. Thus, even whenmodems of some devices are turned off, a call may be received. Accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, a carrier network implementscall reception via intelligent networks such as Customized Applicationfor the Mobile network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) in the case of a CircuitSwitched (CS) based call, or via a function such as call forking of anIP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) in the case of a Voice over LTE (VoLTE)based call.

An embodiment of the present invention relating to receiving a call byselectively turning off a modem of an electronic device includes thecases where the number of SIMs is identical to or different from thenumber of phone numbers, as mentioned above.

In an embodiment of the present invention relating to FIG. 7, anoperation for comparing states of the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device and deactivating the communication module ofthe second electronic device according to a comparison result isdescribed. However, a series of activation and/or deactivationoperations may be performed continuously by changing the roles of thefirst electronic device and the second electronic device. For example,the first electronic device or the second electronic device may performa state comparison operation (operation 740) continuously, periodically,or arbitrarily. If it is determined after operation 770 that it is moreefficient to perform a call function in the second electronic devicerather than to perform a call function in the first electronic device(for example, the amount of battery power remaining in the firstelectronic device falls below a predetermined value), the communicationmodule in the second electronic device is activated and thecommunication module in the first electronic device is deactivated. Anembodiment of the present invention relating to the above example isdescribed below with reference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 illustrates a process of relaying a call between electronicdevices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, a modem of a first electronic device is activatedin operation 810 and a modem of a second electronic device isdeactivated in operation 811. Operations 810 and 811 may be performedsimultaneously or sequentially. Additionally, theactivation/deactivation operations (that is, operations 810 and 811) ofthe modem may be performed based on an operation for comparing theresource/function information of the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device or the resource/function states of the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device (for example, someoperations of the processes described above and illustrated in FIGS. 5to 7).

Each of the first electronic device and the second electronic deviceincludes a SIM, respectively. For example, the first electronic deviceincludes a SIM 1 and the second electronic device includes a SIM 2. Thefirst electronic device and the second electronic device are identifiedvia a user account for each electronic device. Another party's terminalattempting a call to the first electronic device or the secondelectronic device attempts a call connection to the SIM but may alsoattempt a call connection based on a user account according to anembodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the terminalattempts a call to the SIM 1 in operation 820. The first electronicdevice receives the incoming call to SIM 1. According to an embodimentof the present invention, the terminal attempts a call to a user accountof an electronic device and in this case, since the modem of the secondelectronic device is deactivated in operation 811, the first electronicdevice receives the call.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, although the firstelectronic device (for example, a smartphone) must be removed from apocket or a bag for a user to receive an incoming call, when the secondelectronic device is a wearable device (for example, a smart watch orglass), a user immediately receiving a call is possible. According to anembodiment of the present invention, the first electronic device sets acommunication channel with the second electronic device (for example, avoice channel connected via BT) and provides voice data corresponding tothe call received by the first electronic device to the secondelectronic device in operation 830. Via such an implementation, a userof the first electronic device or the second electronic device may speakwith a user of the other party's terminal via a communication channelconnected between the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice in operation 831. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a user of the first electronic device or the secondelectronic device may not recognize whether a call is made by using themodem of the first electronic device or the second electronic device.

In operation 830, when a channel connection between the first electronicdevice and the second electronic device is released or a channelconnection fails, the first electronic device may request the secondelectronic device to activate its modem. In operation 833, the secondelectronic device activates its modem.

In operation 840, in order to prevent a call with the other party frombeing interrupted, the first electronic device performs Explicit CallTransfer (ECT). ECT is requested from the first electronic device to atelecommunication carrier network (for example, a Base Station (BS)),the BS requests the holding of a call session connected between theother party's terminal and the first electronic device.

When the first electronic device and the other party's terminal receivea request to maintain a call session from the telecommunication carrierin operation 850, the first electronic device maintains the call sessionin operation 851. In this case, the other party's terminal may alsoperform an operation corresponding to the first electronic device. Inoperation 860, the BS delivers a call activation result to the secondelectronic device via the modem of the second electronic device. Inoperation 861, the second electronic device performs a call activationoperation using its modem in response to the activation request.

When it is determined that the call activation operation (that is,operation 861) of the second electronic device is performed, a new callsession between the other party's terminal and the second electronicdevice is connected in operation 870, and the call session connectedbetween the other party's terminal and the first electronic device isreleased in operation 880. Operations 870 and 880 may be performedsimultaneously or sequentially.

Through such processes, even when a connection between the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device is terminated while acall service of the first electronic device is used through the secondelectronic device, by turning on the communication modem of the secondelectronic device and performing ECT in the first electronic device, acall session is forwarded from the first electronic device to the secondelectronic device. Thus, without a user's input or recognition, a callservice may be maintained seamlessly.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the communicationmodem of a smartphone (for example, the first electronic device) is inan activation state and the communication modem of a smart watch (forexample, the second electronic device) is in a deactivation state.Additionally, the smart watch relays a call, which is received via themodem of the smartphone, via a BT channel connected to the smartphone(for example, operation 810 to operation 831 of FIG. 8). Then, when a BTconnection is terminated and movement of a user is detected in a smartwatch, the modem of the smart watch is turned on and a service of thesmartphone is relayed to the smart watch (for example, operation 833).The service may include a call service or all relay-available servicesusing a resource in a device. Then, when BT pairing between devices isreconnected or a user movement is detected in the smartphone, a relayedservice is automatically restored to the smartphone. For example, themodem of the smartphone is activated and processes corresponding tooperations 840 to 880 are performed.

FIG. 9 illustrates a process of changing an electronic device that isperforming a function according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 9, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the first electronic device and the second electronic deviceare mutually connected to each other or interoperate with each other inoperation 910. Operation 910 may include a connection of the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device, an exchange ofresource information including functions or modules, and a determinationof a function to be deactivated among overlapping functions and a deviceto be deactivated.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a module of thefirst electronic device is activated in operation 920 and a module ofthe second electronic device is deactivated in operation 921. The modulemay be a modem performing a communication function, for example.According to an embodiment of the present invention, the module may be aposition sensor, a processor, and so on.

In operation 930, a preference setting for function performance isperformed. For example, when it is intended that the modem of the secondelectronic device is off and a communication function using the modem ofthe first electronic device is performed in the second electronicdevice, a preference setting for performing a communication functionusing the modem of the first electronic device is performed in thesecond electronic device. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, for example, as described with reference to FIG. 8, a BTchannel connection between the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device is established to relay a voice call performed withthe first electronic device to the second electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, as a communicationchannel (for example, a BT channel) is formed between the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device in operation 910, amodule (for example, a communication module) is deactivated in thesecond electronic device in operation 921. For example, although aconnection operation of the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device is performed in operation 910, transmission of anadditional function or information may be omitted and a modem may beactivated or deactivated according the recognition of a channelformation (for example, a profile relating to a channel formation,Hands-Free Profile (HFP) for a call, or types of protocols for mediatransmission. For example, a Bluetooth headset may be connected (forexample, BT connection) to a wearable device such as a smart watch, andwhen the Bluetooth headset does not support a communication functionsuch as a cellular network, the communication module (for example, a 3Gcommunication module) of the smart watch may not be deactivated. Asanother example, a smartphone may be connected (for example, BTconnection) to a wearable device such as a smart watch. In this case,the smartphone may support a communication function such as a cellularnetwork and accordingly, the communication module of the smart watch maybe deactivated.

In operation 940, information necessary for performing a correspondingfunction in the second electronic device is provided. For example,information that an environment for function performance is built, orinformation provided to a user using the second electronic device (forexample, information that a voice call is made to the first electronicdevice), and information for device or user authentication may beprovided together.

In operation 950, the second electronic device performs a correspondingfunction by using a module of the first electronic device. In operation960, as a preference set for function performance is released orchanged, if a function performance is no longer available in the secondelectronic device or is not efficient, the process proceeds to operation970.

In operation 970, the first electronic device performs a functioncurrently executed in the second electronic device sequentially. Then,the first electronic device retrieves from the second electronic deviceall information or services provided for function performance to thesecond electronic device.

When an environment for function performance is reestablished in thesecond electronic device, a function relayed to the first electronicdevice is re-performed again in the second electronic device, forexample, repeating operations 930 to 950.

For example, when a call service of a smartphone (e.g., the firstelectronic device) is relayed to a smart watch (e.g., the secondelectronic device) (for example, operation 950), it may be a stateinappropriate for performing a function by the smart watch, for example,the movement of the smart watch may stop, a bio signal may not bedetected (this means that a user takes off the smart watch from thewrist), the smart watch may be in a charging state, or a userauthentication may have failed (for example, operation 960). In thiscase, a call forward relayed to the smart watch is restored to thesmartphone. Then, when an environment for function performance isreestablished (for example, the movement of a smart watch is detected, abio signal is detected, charging is stopped, a BT channel is connectedto the smartphone, or a user authentication is successful), the call ofthe smartphone is forwarded to the smart watch. According to anembodiment of the present invention, during call forwarding, a timelimit may be set and the call forwarding may be set to be automaticallyreleased. For example, as information on a time for function performanceis provided (for example, operation 940) and a call is received via callforwarding (for example, operation 950), when a time limit lapses (forexample, operation 960), the call forwarding is released and thesmartphone receives the call directly (for example, operation 970).

As another example, when a user carries one or more mobile devices (forexample, the second electronic device) and enters a car, the devicesdeliver SIM information to an electronic device for the car (forexample, the first electronic device) and receive communication serviceor position service via a modem of the electronic device for the car.When it is detected that the user exits the car (for example, operation960), the at least one mobile device retrieves all delivered informationand services.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality ofelectronic devices in an interoperating state maintains service byutilizing a resource of an electronic device being charged. For example,when each of a smartphone and a smart watch includes a SIM and hasdifferent phone numbers, if the smart watch is being charged, the callof the smartphone is received by using the modem of the smart watch.According to an embodiment of the present invention, via a method ofdelivering the SIM information of the smartphone by using a SIM AccessProfile (SAP) via a network, an incoming call to the smartphone isreceived by using the modem of the smart watch. Then, when thesmartphone has better user accessibility than the smart watch beingcharged, only the modem of the smart watch is used and an actual callreception operation (for example, a call reception acceptance, a call,and so forth) is performed by the smartphone. However, according to anembodiment of the present invention, an incoming call to the smartphoneis received using the modem of the smart watch and a call receptionoperation is performed by the smart watch at the same time.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when at least twodevices interoperate with each other and the modems of the devices areeach in an active state, if the battery power of a first devicecorresponds to a predetermined criterion (for example, less than 10% ofa full charge), a service using the modem is relayed to another devicehaving sufficient battery power, and the power consumption of the firstdevice is reduced. According to an embodiment of the present invention,at least two devices obtain information on a battery or a modem via ashort-range network such as BT. Additionally, when at least two devicesare not within a distance in which they can be connected via ashort-range network, information on a resource such as a battery isobtained by using a user account via an external service and a functionis relayed. For example, in the situation where a smartphone is left athome or a call is not transmitted/received through the smartphone,information on several devices linked to account information is obtainedby using user account information and an incoming call to the smartphoneis received through another device (for example, a smart watch, atablet, a smart home server, or an electronic device of a smart car).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, among a pluralityof interoperating electronic devices, only the modem of an electronicdevice having a relatively large remaining free call or free data amountis turned on to perform the modem functions of the remaining electronicdevices. The information on the remaining free call or free data amountmay be stored in a device and may be exchanged, or may be obtained viauser account information. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, it may be automatically set or guided via a User Interface(UI) to allow a user to use the modem of a device having the relativelylarge remaining call or data amount.

According to a state of an interoperating device or a condition betweendevices, an On/Off, Sleep/Wake up, or Active/Inactive resource may be asensor. For example, when at least two devices interoperate within ashort distance (for example, within a BT connection range), at least oneamong overlapping sensors between the devices may be turned off. Asanother example, when a distance between interoperating devices isincreased, only sensors of a moving device may be turned on.Additionally, a service delivered between devices may be displayed to berecognized by a user through a method such as a UI, an icon, a pop-up,or a haptic.

A function management method of an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present invention includes receiving, by a firstelectronic device, information relating to a second electronic deviceand deactivating at least one of functions or components of the firstelectronic device based on the received information.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method mayfurther include establishing a connection with the second electronicdevice. The connection may be a wireless connection established usingone of BT, BLE, Zigbee, IrDA, Wi-Fi, and a cellular network.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, informationrelating to the second electronic device includes information on atleast one sensor included in the second electronic device, and anoperation for deactivating at least one of functions or components ofthe first electronic device includes an operation for deactivating afunction of at least one sensor of the first electronic device, whichoverlaps a function of a sensor included in the second electronicdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, one of the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device may be a smartphoneand the other may be an auxiliary device that is connected by wired orwirelessly connected to the smartphone. Additionally, the auxiliarydevice may be a wearable device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method furtherincludes an operation providing information for performing thedeactivated function on the second electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, informationrelating to the second electronic device includes information on theamount of remaining battery power of the second electronic device, andan operation for deactivating at least one function of the firstelectronic device is performed when the amount of remaining batterypower is greater than the amount of remaining battery power of the firstelectronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, informationrelating to the second electronic device includes performanceinformation on a processor of the second electronic device, and anoperation for deactivating at least one function of the first electronicdevice is performed when the performance of the processor is greaterthan the performance of a processor of the first electronic device.

A communication method of an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present invention includes comparing, by the firstelectronic device, resource states of the first electronic deviceincluding a first communication module and the second electronic deviceincluding a second communication module, providing information relatingto a state change of the second communication module to the secondelectronic device based on at least the comparison result, and receivinga communication signal for the first electronic device or the secondelectronic device via the first communication module.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the communicationsignal received is forwarded to the first electronic device by using amessage provided to a network when the second communication module isdeactivated in the second electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, reception of thecommunication signal includes establishing a communication channelconnection between the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice and transmitting data included in a communication signal receivedvia the first communication module to the second electronic device viathe channel.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the communicationsignal is a voice call and the method includes activating the secondcommunication module when the channel connection is released, requestingthe maintenance of the communication signal to a network, andterminating the call session connected to the first communication modulewhen the second communication module is activated and connecting thesecond communication module and the call session. Additionally,requesting maintenance includes performing ECT in the first electronicdevice.

An electronic device such as a smartphone may have various applications.For example, a smartphone may download media contents such as video ormusic and various data such as a document from a file server using anFile Transfer Protocol (FTP) application. Additionally, a media contentsstreaming service may be provided via a video providing application (forexample, YouTube).

In such a way, while an operation for communicating with an externaldevice or an external server is performed, an electronic device may usean available communication means. For example, an electronic device mayprovide a service to a user via a wireless communication module (forexample, the cellular module 221) or an RF module (for example, the RFmodule 229).

While an electronic device receives service (for example, data service)by using a communication resource, a voice call may occur. According toan embodiment of the present invention, data service and voice servicemay use different types of communication methods. For example, dataservice may be provided in LTE, but voice service may be provided in 3G.Additionally, for example, data service may be provided in a packetswitching network, but voice service may be provided in a circuitswitching network. According to an embodiment of the present invention,when a voice call is provided via Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB), LTEservice may not be provided continuously. In such a case, efficientservice may be provided by using components mounted in differentelectronic devices.

FIG. 10 illustrates a call process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. According to an embodiment of the present invention,the call may include a voice call or a video call.

Referring to FIG. 10, the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device are in an interoperating state in operation 1010.During an interoperating process, information for using the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device is provided inadvance. For example, while the first electronic device uses a datanetwork, if another type of network is required, the first electronicdevice provides information for using a resource of the secondelectronic device.

In operation 1020, the first electronic device makes an outgoing call.According to an embodiment of the present invention, the firstelectronic device transmits a command for the outgoing call to thesecond electronic device in operation 1020.

In operation 1021, the first electronic device delivers outgoing sourceinformation (for example, the phone number of the first electronicdevice, the Universal SIM (USIM) information on the first electronicdevice, or identification information corresponding to a user account)to the second electronic device. The first electronic provides SIMinformation to the second electronic device. The operation may beperformed selectively. For example, when the information is alreadyexchanged, information on an outgoing source is shared via common useraccount information, or the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device have the same phone number (in this case, the SIMs aredifferent, that is, at least two SIMs may be used for one phone number)during the interoperating process (operation 1010), operation 1021 maybe omitted.

In operation 1030, the second electronic device transmits a call toanother party's terminal. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the second electronic device transmits a call by using thephone number of its SIM. In this case, each of the first electronicdevice and the second electronic device has a SIM and a phone number.

In operation 1031, the second electronic device provides, to the firstelectronic device, call state information that the outgoing call isbeing transmitted.

In operation 1040, upon receipt of the call state information, the firstelectronic device displays a UI representing that the call is outgoingfrom the second electronic device. That is, a user using the firstelectronic device interoperating with the second electronic devicetransmits a call using another network (or a second network) while usingan LTE data network, and recognizes the call as if the call thatactually uses another network is being transmitted from the firstelectronic device, although the call is being transmitted using acommunication resource of the second electronic device. According to anembodiment of the present invention, information that the call istransmitted using the second electronic device is provided on a screenof the first electronic device. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, the screen includes a component where text, image,and video are displayed for users to see. A display module may refer toa module or a device (for example, an LED or an Active Matrix OrganicLED (AMOLED) device) performing image processing to display the text,image, and video on the screen.

When the other party receives a call transmitted via the secondelectronic device, the second electronic device sets a call between theother party's terminal and the second electronic device in operation1050. The changed call state information is provided to the firstelectronic device in operation 1055.

In operation 1060, upon receipt of state information that the call isconnected to the other party's terminal, the first electronic devicestarts the call with the other party. The embodiment of the presentinvention illustrates that the call is performed in the first electronicdevice. For example, the first electronic device establishes acommunication channel such as a BT voice channel with the secondelectronic device and delivers user voice data received via a microphoneof the first electronic device to the second electronic device, and thesecond electronic device delivers voice data received from the otherparty (or the other party's terminal) to the user of the firstelectronic device via the same channel. Thus, the effect of talkingdirectly with the other party via the first electronic device isachieved. However, according to an embodiment of the present invention,for example, a selection screen for selecting a call available device isprovided to a UI in operation 1040 and according to a user's selection,a call is performed in the second electronic device. According to anembodiment of the present invention, when a short-range network such asBT is no longer formed, because the distance between the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device has increased, a usermay continuously make a call using the first electronic device as anoutgoing source via a microphone/speaker module of the second electronicdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the firstelectronic device receives a call while using an LTE network, since aCSFB supporting network switches an LTE network into a 3G or a 2^(nd)Generation (2G) network, an LTE network may not be used. In this case,an application or the first electronic device using an LTE network maybe affected in terms of performance. For example, when a call isreceived as downloading data via an LTE network, since an LTE networkswitches into a 3G network and the data is downloaded via a 3G network,download speed may be reduced.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a call isreceived as the first electronic device uses data via an LTE network,the received voice call is delivered to the second electronic device.Or, by setting in advance a call signal received by the first electronicdevice to be delivered to the second electronic device, when the firstelectronic device uses data via an LTE network, a call is received bythe second electronic device instead of the first electronic devicereceiving the call. In this case, the first electronic device uses anLTE network continuously and the second electronic device starts a callthat is an incoming call to the first electronic device via a 3Gnetwork.

The first electronic device delivers a call to the second electronicdevice via a call forwarding function using USSD or a call deflectionfunction. Hereinafter, a call forwarding method using USSD is describedwith reference to FIG. 11 and call deflection is described withreference to FIG. 12.

FIG. 11 illustrates a process for forwarding a call received by a firstelectronic device to a second electronic device by using USSD, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the firstelectronic device delivers a message by using USSD to a network inadvance in operation 1110. For example, when the first electronic device(or an application) operates under a network environment (for example,an LTE network), the first electronic device transmit USSD in advance tothe network in preparation of the situation where the LTE network isinterrupted in response to receiving an incoming call. For example, thefirst electronic device transmits a message in a format “*21*[phonenumber of second electronic device]#” to a network by using USSD. Afterthe message is transmitted, a call using the first electronic device asa destination is forwarded to the phone number of second electronicdevice. If call forwarding is to be released, for example, the firstelectronic device or its application stops using the networkenvironment, and a message terminating the call forwarding (for example,a message “##21#”) is transmitted to the specified network. After thetermination message is transmitted, a call received by the firstelectronic device is received directly by the first electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the secondelectronic device receives call paging in operation 1120. Since the USSDis transmitted to a network (for example, a base station) in operation1110, call paging received by the second electronic device in operation1120 sets the first electronic device or the second electronic device asa destination.

In operation 1121, the second electronic device determines whether areceived call is a call using the second electronic device as adestination based on the paging. If the received call is a call usingthe second electronic device as a destination, the process proceeds tooperation 1123 to display a call reception UI on a screen of the secondelectronic device.

In operation 1121, if it is determined that the received call is not acall using the second electronic device as a destination, the secondelectronic device determines that the call uses the first electronicdevice as a destination. In operation 1125, the second electronic deviceprovides call state information that a call is coming to the firstelectronic device. The call state information includes outgoing source(e.g., a caller) information.

In operation 1130, when the first electronic device receives call stateinformation, it is determined that a call using the first electronicdevice as a destination is received and a UI representing that a call isincoming is provided to a screen. In this case, information representingthat a corresponding call is received via the second electronic device(or a communication module of the second electronic device) is provided.When a user input for receiving a call is provided in operation 1140,the first electronic device provides a call reception command to thesecond electronic device in operation 1141. In operation 1150, thesecond electronic device receives a call using the first electronicdevice as a destination.

In operation 1160, the second electronic device sets up a call. That is,the second electronic device establishes a voice call between the otherparty's terminal and the first electronic device, which are connectedvia resources of the other party's terminal and the second electronicdevice. The second electronic device provides changed call stateinformation to the first electronic device in operation 1161. Inoperation 1170, the first electronic device starts a call with the otherparty's terminal. The first electronic device, like the embodiment ofthe present invention shown in FIG. 8, makes a call with the other partyby connecting a voice channel such as BT with the second electronicdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, at least one ofoperations 1121, 1123, 1125, 1130, 1140, 1141, 1161, and 1170 may beomitted. For example, a user may make a call, where the first electronicdevice is an outgoing source (e.g., a caller device) using amicrophone/speaker module of the second electronic device. In addition,a user may make a video call, where the first electronic device is anoutgoing source (e.g., a caller device) using a camera module 291 of thesecond electronic device.

FIG. 12 illustrates a process for forwarding a call received by a firstelectronic device to a second electronic device by using call deflectionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In relation to FIG.12, contents overlapping or corresponding to the contents described withreference to FIG. 11 are omitted.

USSD supporting the call forwarding function described with reference toFIG. 11 must be provided in advance to a network before a call isreceived and when a call is received by an electronic device, callforwarding may not be performed using the method of FIG. 11. In thiscase, the call deflection method of FIG. 12 is used.

Referring to FIG. 12, the first electronic device receives paging for acall in operation 1210. The first electronic device is connected to anLTE network for data communication, and if there is a possibility of adisconnection of the connection to the LTE network by reception of anincoming call, a call for the first electronic device is received viathe second electronic device.

In operation 1220, when an input occurs in the first electronic device(for example, “4+[phone number of second electronic device]+SEND”) whilea call is received, a reception call is forwarded to the phone number ofsecond electronic device. Herein, the input may be performedautomatically or manually according to a situation of the firstelectronic device.

Processes after operation 1230 (for example, operations 1230 to 1280)correspond to operations 1120 to 1170 of FIG. 11. According to anembodiment of the present invention, at least one of operations 1231,1233, 1235, 1240, 1250, 1251, 1271, and 1280 may be omitted. Forexample, a user may make a call, where the first electronic device is anoutgoing source (e.g., a caller device) using a microphone/speakermodule of the second electronic device. In addition, a user may make avideo call, where the first electronic device is an outgoing source(e.g., a caller device) using a camera module 291 of the secondelectronic device.

Although the second electronic device receives a call by using itsmodem, an actual call may be performed in the first electronic device byusing a communication channel connected between the first electronicdevice and the second electronic device.

FIG. 13 illustrates a call forwarding or call deflection processdepending on a call type support of an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present invention.

For example, when a user owns the first electronic device (for example,a smart watch) and the second electronic device (for example, asmartphone), the other party may attempt to call the user via at leastone of the first electronic device and the second electronic device.According to an embodiment of the present invention, a call receivedfrom the other party may be a wideband voice call, which is commonlyreferred to as an HD voice call, supported by Voice over LTE (VoLTE).The other party may transmit an HD voice call to the first electronicdevice of the user.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the HD voice callis supported by 2G and 3G networks or an LTE network, but if the firstelectronic device of the user supports only 2G and 3G networks, the usermay not receive the HD voice call under an LTE network environment. Inthis case, the user may experience relative quality impairment. As such,when the first electronic device does not support all or some functionsand the second electronic device interoperating with the firstelectronic device supports a function not supported by the firstelectronic device, the function not supported by the first electronicdevice is performed by the second electronic device.

Referring to FIG. 13, the first electronic device performs a function oris in a standby state in operation 1310. In operation 1320, the firstelectronic device receives a call. The call, for example, may be an HDvoice call using VoLTE. In operation 1330, the first electronic devicedetermines whether the first electronic device supports the call. If itis determined that the support is available, the process proceeds tooperation 1340 and, if not, proceeds to operation 1370.

When it is determined that the first electronic device supports theincoming call, the first electronic device provides a UI for receivingthe call to a screen in operation 1340. When an input for permitting thereception of the call is received from the user in operation 1350 (forexample, selecting a call button), the call between the other party'sterminal and the first electronic device is connected in operation 1360.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when it isdetermined that the first electronic device does not support the call orsupports the call with partially degraded quality in operation 1330, thefirst electronic device forwards or deflects the call to the secondelectronic device the supports the call. In relation to the callforwarding or the call deflection, at least one of the methods relatingto FIG. 7, 11, or 12 may be performed.

In operation 1380, the second electronic device receives the call. For acall connection between the other party's terminal and the secondelectronic device, operations 1340 to 1360 may be performed in thesecond electronic device. By performing such operations, a user performsa function (for example, HD voice call reception) by using a device thatyields the best performance from among the first electronic device andthe second electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a call forwardingor call deflection function may be activated by using theabove-mentioned USSD. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, in the case of VoLTE, call forwarding or call deflection maybe performed by using a Communication DIVersion (CDIV) functionsupported by an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

For example, by using a Communication Forwarding Unconditional (CFU)function among CDIV functions, call forwarding may be provided from thefirst electronic device to the second electronic device. According to anembodiment of the present invention, in order to start a VoLTE availableHD voice call, the other party's terminal transmits an invite messagefor the first electronic device to an IMS network. A Serving-CSCF(S-CSCF) of an IMS network transmits the invite message to anApplication Server (AS). After the AS receives the invite message forthe first electronic device, since the call forwarding from the firstelectronic device to the second electronic device is applied to thefirst electronic device, a CFU logic operates. Accordingly, the IMSnetwork transmits the invite message to the second electronic device.The second electronic device receiving the invite message may proceed tomake a VoLTE HD voice call with the other party by responding with amessage that indicates a successful request, which is commonly referredto as a “200 OK” message.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, call deflection maybe performed from the first electronic device to the second electronicdevice by using a Communication Deflection (CD) function. In order tostart a VoLTE available HD voice call, a user terminal transmits aninvite message for the first electronic device to an IMS network. TheIMS network transmits the invite message to the first electronic device.The first electronic device may transmit a message “moved temporarily”to the IMS network by performing CD in an automatic or manual setting.An S-CSCF of an IMS network transmits the message “moved temporarily” toan AS. A CD logic is performed in the AS and the IMS network transmitsthe invite message to the second electronic device. The secondelectronic device receiving the invite message may proceed to make aVoLTE HD voice call with the other party by responding a “200 OK”message.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the firstelectronic device or the second electronic device may be a mobileterminal, a vehicle supporting a modem function, or an electronic devicefor a vehicle (for example, a telematics). According to an embodiment ofthe present invention, the first electronic device or the secondelectronic device may be a device supporting a call and messagetransmission/reception function in a home or an area inside a home.According to an embodiment of the present invention, the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device may each be a deviceused in an M2M network.

FIG. 14 illustrates a data reception process according to service orcontent characteristics according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

For convenience of description, FIG. 14 illustrates data reception, buta corresponding process may be applied to data transmission. Accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, an electronic devicetransmitting/receiving data may be determined selectively according toservices or content appropriate for characteristics of an electronicdevice.

For example, when an application of the second electronic devicereceives data, the first electronic device may receive correspondingdata and may then deliver it to the second electronic device via a BT ora Wi-Fi connection. However, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, corresponding data may be directly received by the secondelectronic device. Additionally, in the case of a service using contentof a large size, such as a movie, the service may be received using anetwork of an electronic device (for example, the first electronicdevice) having greater memory capacity or greater processor andcommunication performance. And, in the case of a service using contentof a small size, such as an instant message, the service may be receivedusing a network of an electronic device (for example, the secondelectronic device) having less memory capacity or lower processor andcommunication performance. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, in a situation where data load in the first electronic deviceis significant when using a Rich Communication Suite (RCS) (e.g., usingVoLTE call and multimedia service at the same time), data used in theremaining application or service may be received by the secondelectronic device. According to an embodiment of the present invention,an electronic device may receive data by distinguishing appropriate datafor a display of the electronic device. If data to be received isappropriate to be displayed on a screen of the second electronic device,the second electronic device may receive the data directly.

Referring to FIG. 14, the first electronic device performs a function oris in a standby state in is 1410. In operation 1420, data receptionoccurs in the first electronic device. In operation 1430, it isdetermined whether reception of the data by the first electronic deviceis appropriate. The appropriateness determination in operation 1430 maybe performed based on various information, for example, the capacity orperformance of the first electronic device, the current operationsituation of the first electronic device, a connection situation with anetwork with which the first electronic device communicates, the dataload of the first electronic device, and the resolution of contentdisplayed on each electronic device. The appropriateness determinationmay be understood as including whether the received data is appropriatefor the first electronic device as well as whether the data receivingsituation is appropriate. For example, when the first electronic devicereceives an application (data or installation file (for example, a“.apk” file)) that is only executed in the second electronic device,even if it is appropriate for the first electronic device to receive theapplication in consideration of the size of the application, since theapplication is not appropriate for the first electronic device, thefirst electronic device may decide to provide the application to thesecond electronic device.

If it is determined in operation 1430 that the data is appropriate forthe first electronic device, the process proceeds to operation 1440 and,if not, proceeds to operation 1450.

In operation 1440, the first electronic device receives the data. Thereceived data may be displayed, installed, played, or used in variousforms in the first electronic device.

In operation 1450, if it is determined that the data is not appropriatefor the first electronic device, it is determined whether the secondelectronic device should receive the data. If it is determined that thesecond electronic device should receive the data (for example, when asignificant data load occurs in the communication module of the firstelectronic device), the data is received by the second electronicdevice.

If it is determined in operation 1450 that the second electronic deviceshould not receive the data, the process proceeds to operation 1470 andthe first electronic device receives the data. In operation 1430, it wasdetermined that the data is not appropriate for the first electronicdevice and, accordingly, the data is only received by the firstelectronic device and provided to the second electronic device.According to an embodiment of the present invention, a communicationchannel between the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice is connected in operation 1480 and data is relayed (ortransmitted) to the second electronic device in operation 1490.

In addition to the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention,other embodiments of the present invention are possible, where afunction between the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice may be relayed, used selectively, or used simultaneously.Additionally, if there is a change in a function utilization environmentwhile an operation is performed by using a function between electronicdevices, a corresponding operation may be performed continuously invarious forms.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a call may be madewith the other party's terminal via the second electronic device byusing the modem of the first electronic device, and a communicationchannel may be connected between the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device. For example, a user may make a call with theother party's terminal while the communication module of the secondelectronic device is deactivated. In this case, although a call isconnected using the communication module of the first electronic device,a user may obtain the same result as if the user made a call with theother party by using the second electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a wearable device(for example, the first electronic device) such as a smart watch orglass is typically in a state of being worn, but a device (for example,the second electronic device) such as a smartphone, a tablet, and alaptop PC may be left in a bag or a jacket, or on a desk. In this case,a connection quality (for example, signal intensity or RSSI) between thefirst electronic device and the second electronic device may bemonitored. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when theconnection is released or the connection quality is less than apredetermined level, the first electronic device (or the secondelectronic device) may determine that the connection is unstable and maychange a method of performing a function. For example, when it isdetermined that a call service provided from the first electronic devicevia the second electronic device (or the communication module of thesecond electronic device) becomes unstable, the second electronic devicemay proceed with a call forwarding process. For example, a process(operation 830 in FIG. 8) for determining whether a channel is connectedmay be replaced with a process for determining the connection quality ofthe channel. A call forwarding function may be activated by using USSDand, in the case of VoLTE, may use a CDIV function supported by an IMS.During a call, an ECT function may be used. These contents overlap theabove contents and thus are omitted.

The above examples may be applicable to (voice) call service and dataservice. Data service may include video streaming via YouTube, musicstreaming via a music provider server such as Melody On (MelOn), andfile download. For example, when the second electronic device receivesdata service of the first electronic device (for example, operation 1490of FIG. 14), as a distance between the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device increases, the intensity of the signal may dropbelow a reference value or the connection may be released. While thefirst electronic device (or the second electronic device) monitors thesensitivity of the signal (for example, RSSI), when the sensitivity ofthe signal drops below a predetermined level, a data service forwardingprocess may proceed. For example, when the connection quality dropsbelow a predetermined level, link Uniform Resource Locator (URL) orplayback time information on a currently played file may be providedfrom the first electronic device to the second electronic device, andmutual synchronization may be performed. According to an embodiment,data service state information when the connection quality is less thana predetermined level or the connection is released may be recorded inuser account information (for example, a Samsung account, a Googleaccount, an Apple account, and so forth) and another terminal mayperform data service continuously based on corresponding stateinformation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an update of anapplication (or app) installed in an electronic device or appsynchronization between electronic devices may be performed. When an appor data must be updated in an electronic device, each device may accessa server to perform the update, or, alternatively, a representativedevice may access a server to perform the update and provide thereceived data to another device. The representative device may be set bya user or may be determined based on usage amount. Then, data may beprovided via a communication channel such as BT. For example, as shownin the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14, the representative devicereceives an app update or app sync data in operation 1470, connects acommunication channel with an appropriate second electronic device inoperation 1480, and shares the data in operation 1490. In this case, anappropriateness determination result may indicate a plurality ofelectronic devices appropriate for the received data to be applied,(although the received data is appropriate for the representativeelectronic device (for example, the first electronic device)) and mayproceed to operation 1450 to provide the data to several devices.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a main device (forexample, a smartphone) receives update data of an application of anauxiliary device (for example, a wearable device) and may then deliverit to a wearable device via another communication means such as BT.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, if an applicationof a main device and an application (e.g. Counter App) of a wearabledevice are related and an application and a network periodically performan app sync, one of the interoperating devices may performsynchronization as a representative and may share the synchronizationdata with the remaining devices.

FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface screen according to an embodimentof the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 15, when a function of the first electronic device isperformed via the second electronic device, a display representingcorresponding information may be provided to a screen of the firstelectronic device. For example, referring to the embodiment shown inFIG. 15, when a voice call is provided to a smartphone by using acommunication module of a smart watch, a display that a correspondingcall is received via the smart watch may be provided at the right topend in the screen of the smartphone.

However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, when afunction of the first electronic device is performed using a resource ofthe second electronic device, a display representing this fact may notbe provided. For example, when the battery of the first electronicdevice is less than a predetermined level, the first electronic devicemay receive a call by using the communication module of the secondelectronic device via the above-mentioned pairing or interoperatingprocess and may save battery power by deactivating the communicationmodule of the first electronic device. However, a user receiving a callvia the first electronic device may not recognize that the call istransmitted/received via the second electronic device. Whether todisplay such information may be determined automatically or manually viaa user setting.

An outgoing call forwarding method of the first electronic device in thesecond electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may include receiving an outgoing call command from the firstelectronic device, transmitting a call using the first electronic deviceas an outgoing source to the other party's terminal based on theoutgoing call command, and providing call state information to allow thecall between the other party's terminal and the first electronic devicewhen the other party's terminal receives the call.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method mayfurther include connecting a voice channel between the first electronicdevice and the second electronic device and, once a call is connectedbetween the first electronic device and the other party's terminal,exchanging voice data between the first electronic device and the otherparty's terminal via the voice channel.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the voice channelmay be a BT channel.

A call forwarding method of the first electronic device according to anembodiment of the present invention may include receiving paginginformation in the first electronic device, determining whether the callis a call using the second electronic device as a destination based onthe paging information, providing call state information to the secondelectronic device when the call is a call using the second electronicdevice as a destination, and receiving the call in the first electronicdevice when a reception command on the call is provided from the secondelectronic device and providing state information on the call to thesecond electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the paginginformation may be received by the first electronic device via a USSDmessage provided to a network by the second electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the secondelectronic device uses a service in a network environment, the USSDmessage may be provided to the network.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the secondelectronic device terminates the use of the service, the USSD messagereleasing call forwarding may be provided to the network.

A resource utilization method of a plurality of electronic devicesaccording to an embodiment of the present invention may includeperforming a function in the first electronic device, determiningwhether the first electronic device supports the function, andperforming the function in the first electronic device or the secondelectronic device interoperating with the first electronic device basedon the determination result.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method mayinclude performing the function in the second electronic devicesupporting the function when all or a part of the function is notsupported by the first electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the functionis an HD voice call using VoLTE, the first electronic device does notsupport LTE communication, and the second electronic device supports LTEcommunication, the HD voice call may be performed in the secondelectronic device.

A data forwarding method of an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present invention may include receiving data in thefirst electronic device, determining the data, determining whether thedata for the first electronic device is appropriate, and receiving thedata in the first electronic device or providing the data to the secondelectronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, providing the datato the second electronic device may include stopping reception of thedata in the first electronic device and receiving the data from thesecond electronic device based on the appropriateness determination.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, providing data tothe second electronic device may include receiving the data in the firstelectronic device, setting a communication connection between the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device, and providing thedata from the first electronic device to the second electronic devicevia the communication connection.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the firstelectronic device may be equipped with a first SIM (e.g. SIM1) and thesecond electronic device may be equipped with a second SIM (e.g. SIM2).Then, by using the first electronic device (for example, a mainelectronic device or a master device) and the second electronic device(for example, an auxiliary electronic device or a slave device), theusage efficiency of an electronic device may be improved during a callor message and data exchange. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a call may be used to refer to a circuit switching basedvoice call, a packet switching based voice call, a video call, packetdata communication, and mutual communication available bi-directionallyregardless of the communication bearer. According to an embodiment ofthe present invention, SIM may refer to a concept including all of adetachable SIM, an embedded SIM, a virtual SIM, and a software SIM. Amethod for recognizing a user of an electronic device may include MSISDNused as a general phone number in SIM/USIM/IP multimedia SIM(ISIM)/embedded SIM, Public User Identity or Private User Identity usedin an IMS based service, a unique ID of an electronic device such asInternational Mobile station Equipment Identity (IMEI), an IP addressallocated to a device on a network, or a separator with propertiesallowing bi-directional communication according to a user based accountor a communication bearer used in an electronic device or anapplication.

FIG. 16A illustrates a method of transmitting a signal to a firstelectronic device and a second electronic device by using identificationinformation according to an embodiment of the present invention.Additionally, FIG. 16B illustrates a method of transmitting a signal ona first electronic device to a second electronic device by usingidentification information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 16A, the first electronic device 1610 includes a SIM1and the second electronic device 1620 may include a SIM2. A phone number(or numbers) corresponding to SIM1 and SIM2 may be set to the same ordifferent phone number(s) according to an enhanced service that acommunication carrier provides. An embodiment of the present inventionin which different phone numbers are set according to the SIMs is shownin FIG. 16B.

When SIM1 and SIM2 have the same phone number, when a call is receivedfrom a base station (or a network), both the first electronic device1610 and the second electronic device 1620 (or users of the firstelectronic device 1610 and the second electronic device 1620) receive acall signal. Similarly, both the first electronic device 1610 and thesecond electronic device 1620 receive an SMS or an instant message fromanother party's device. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a user may set a priority in advance on the first electronicdevice 1610 and the second electronic device 1620. In this case,according to a priority set by a user, a call signal and a message maybe received sequentially in one electronic device or a plurality ofelectronic devices.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the case whereSIM1 and SIM2 have different phone numbers, when a call is received froma base station (or a network), a user may set to receive a call to aphone number of the first electronic device 1610 at a significantdistance from the user or as a call to a phone number of the secondelectronic device 1620 (for example, a wearable device such as a smartwatch) nearer to the user. For example, delivering a signal received bythe first electronic device 1610 (SIM1) to the second electronic device1620 (SIM2) may be requested in advance via an enhanced service functionsuch as call forwarding via a network carrier or a corresponding serviceprovider server. When call forwarding is performed by using USSD in abase station (or a network), even when no direct information on the callforwarding is delivered between the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device, the call forwarding may be possible. Therequest, for example, may be the above-mentioned USSD message. As shownin FIG. 16B, when call forwarding is requested via USSD in the firstelectronic device 1610, a signal on the first electronic device 1610 isprovided to the second electronic device. For example, the secondelectronic device 1620 receives a call signal for a call of SIM1 and/orSIM2, an SMS, an instant message, and so forth.

The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B maybe applied to an IP based call reception scenario of an electronicdevice or a user account based call reception scenario of an electronicdevice, which are described below. In the application, an appropriatemodification (for example, SIM1 and SIM may be changed to IP addressesIP #1 and IP #2) may be made.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the case of acall reception scenario, an IP based call method of an electronic devicein addition to a phone number based call method may be possible. Forexample, it is assumed that an IP address of the first electronic device1610 is IP #1 and an IP address of the second electronic device 1620 isIP #2, and a network carrier or a service provider server may call theIP addresses.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a network carrieror a corresponding service provider server may bind the addresses of IP#1 and IP #2 as a device for one user and may manage it as IP # A. Whenthe other party (for example, the other party's terminal) transmits acall to a user's electronic device (for example, the first electronicdevice 1610 and/or the second electronic device 1620) by using IP # A, anetwork carrier or a corresponding service provider server transmits acall signal to both the first electronic device 1610 and the secondelectronic device 1620 using the addresses IP #1 and IP #2 managed as IP# A. In this case, according to a priority set by a user, a call signaland a message may be received sequentially in one electronic device orin a plurality of electronic devices.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a network carrieror a corresponding service provider server may set the addresses IP #1and IP #2 as the IP address of an additional device for one user toallow another user to make a call.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user may set acall for the first electronic device 1610, which is at a significantdistance from the user, to be received by the second electronic device1620 (for example, a wearable device such as a smart watch), which iscloser to the user. During this process, a method such as callforwarding or IP routing may be used. Then, a signal for the firstelectronic device 1610 is provided to the second electronic device 1620.For example, the second electronic device 1620 may receive a call signalfor a call, an SMS, and an instant message being directed to the firstelectronic device 1610.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the case of acall reception scenario, a user account based call method may bepossible. For example, it is assumed that a user account addressinputted and used in the first electronic device 1610 is ID #1 and auser account address inputted and used in the second electronic device1620 is ID #2. The addresses are called for a call by a network carrieror a corresponding service provider server.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a network carrieror a corresponding service provider server may bind the addresses ID #1and ID #2 as an account for one user and may manage it as ID # A. Whenthe other party (for example, the other party's terminal) transmits acall to a user's electronic device, for example, the first electronicdevice 1610 and/or the second electronic device 1620, by using ID # A, anetwork carrier or a corresponding service provider server transmits acall signal to both the first electronic device 1610 and the secondelectronic device 1620 using the accounts ID #1 and ID #2 managed as ID# A. In this case, according to a priority set by a user, a call signaland a message may be received sequentially in one electronic device orin a plurality of electronic devices.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a network carrieror a corresponding service provider server may set the user accountaddresses ID #1 and ID #2 as an additional user account addressrepresenting the ID of a device that a user uses to allow another userto make a call.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user may set acall to the first electronic device 1610 using the user account of ID#1, which is at a significant distance from the user, to be received bythe second electronic device 1620, which is closer to the user, usingthe user account of ID #2. During this process, a method such as callforwarding or routing for delivering a call signal and a message for theuser account ID #1 to the user account ID #2 via a network carrier or acorresponding service provider server may be used. For example, thesecond electronic device 1620 using the user account ID #2 may receive acall signal for a call, a SMS, and an instant message for the firstelectronic device using the user account ID #1.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user accountaddress inputted and used in the first electronic device 1610 and a useraccount address inputted and used in the second electronic device 1620,which may be called by a network carrier or a corresponding serviceprovider server for a call or signal transmission, may be the same as ID#1. When the other party transmits a call to a user by using ID #1, thecall may be delivered to the first electronic device 1610 and the secondelectronic device 1620 currently using a corresponding account.

In addition to the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention,as a separator or identification information used for a call in thefirst electronic device 1610 and the second electronic device 1620, anidentifier identifying the first electronic device 1610 and the secondelectronic device 1620, or an external recognition module inserted intothe first electronic device 1610 and the second electronic device 1620in hardware form to provide service, or a code set by a user orautomatically stored in a device in software form to provide service, anaddress value used statically or dynamically by being allocated from anetwork, or a separator inputted by a user and stored in a device to beused in order for a service may be used. When such a separator is used,the method may be appropriately modified and applied.

A method of transmitting/receiving a communication signal in anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present inventionmay include transmitting a signal to at least one electronic devicecorresponding to identification information. The signal may be receivedby some of the at least one electronic device according to apredetermined standard.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the signal mayinclude a voice call signal or a message signal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the identificationinformation includes a phone number. The signal may be receivedaccording to a priority set in advance in the at least one electronicdevice corresponding to the phone number.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the priority may beset by a user input.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, transmitting thesignal may include, when there is a forward request from the at leastone electronic device to another electronic device, transmitting thesignal for the at least one electronic device to the other electronicdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the identificationinformation includes IP information. The IP information includes atleast one IP address. The signal may be received according to a priorityset in advance in the at least one electronic device corresponding tothe at least one IP address.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the identificationinformation includes user account information. The user accountinformation includes at least one piece of ID information. The signalmay be received according to a priority set in advance in the at leastone electronic device corresponding to the at least one piece of IDinformation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, phone numberscorresponding to SIM1 and SIM2 may be serviced by setting one phonenumber or different phone numbers according to an enhanced service thata communication carrier provides. In the case where SIM1 and SIM2 havethe same phone number, when a call is transmitted, a user may transmit acall signal for a call, an SMS, and an instant message by using one ofthe first electronic device and the second electronic device. When auser transmits a call or a message via the first electronic device orthe second electronic device, the other party recognizes the user viathe user's phone number.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the case whereSIM1 and SIM2 have different phone numbers, when a call is transmitted,although a user wants to make a call using the phone number of the firstelectronic device equipped with SIM1, only the second electronic deviceequipped with SIM2 is available. In such a case, a method where thefirst electronic device relays a call to the second electronic deviceand connects to the other party's terminal is shown in FIGS. 17A and17B.

FIG. 17A illustrates relaying a call of a second electronic device in afirst electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 17A, both the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device (for example, electronic device 1 and electronicdevice 2) are a user's devices. The other party terminal B may be adevice of the other party.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a user selectsa call transmission via a UI for selecting SIM1 as a transmission numberin the second electronic device equipped with SIM2, the secondelectronic device transmits a message including the identificationinformation on the other party terminal B in operation 1710. Thecorresponding message is received in the first electronic device. Thesecond electronic device and the first electronic device are the sameuser's devices and may share mutual information (for example, phonenumbers, device information, and SIM information). Accordingly, when thesecond electronic device connects a call to the first electronic device(for example, operation 1720) by using the phone number (for example,the phone number of SIM1) of the first electronic device, the call isconnected after the phone number of the other party terminal B istransmitted via a message such as an SMS or an instant message. Once thecall is connected, a communication session between the first electronicdevice and the second electronic device is generated.

In operation 1730, the first electronic device transmits a call to theother party terminal B by using a conference call or a multi-party callprovided by a communication carrier by using the received phone numberof SIM2. In operation 1740, the first electronic device connects twocall sessions (the first electronic device to the second electronicdevice and the first electronic device to the other party terminal B)and then integrates them as one session. Then, in operation 1750, thecall of the first electronic device is terminated and a call sessionbetween the second electronic device and the other party terminal B ismaintained continuously.

FIG. 17B illustrates relaying a call of a second electronic device in afirst electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a method wherethe second electronic device makes a call with the other party terminalB via the first electronic device, the second electronic device regardsthe first electronic device as a modem for transmitting a call to theother party terminal B. For example, in operation 1760, the secondelectronic device loads a message including the other part'sidentification information (for example, a phone number) for allowingthe second electronic device to make a call with the other partyterminal B into packet data and then delivers it to the first electronicdevice. The message may correspond to a formal message format receivedby a modem included in an electronic device when the electronic devicetransmits a call.

In operation 1770, the first electronic device changes the transmission(phone) number of SIM1 by using the received message format in the firstelectronic device and makes a call to the other party terminal B via themodem of the first electronic device. In this case, the other partyrecognizes a call sender (e.g. a user) via the SIM1 number. According toan embodiment of the present invention, in operation 1775, the firstelectronic device serves as the modem of the second electronic deviceand generates a call session with the other party terminal B to relay acall message between the second electronic device, the first electronicdevice, and the other party terminal B. In this case, a communicationmethod between the second electronic device and the first electronicdevice may include a short-range communication such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,Zigbee, or a communication using a cellular network.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in operation 1780,the second electronic device connects and binds two call sessions as onesession by using a function such as conference call or multi-party allprovided from a carrier and then, in operation 1790, the firstelectronic device terminates the call to connect a call session betweenthe second electronic device and the other party terminal B. Operations1780 or 1790 may be performed selectively.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the case where acall is made or a call is relayed, a subject generating an actual callmay be checked. According to an embodiment of the present invention,when it is assumed that a user having the first electronic device andthe second electronic device transmits a call to the other party, auser's main device uses the SIM1 phone number and a user's auxiliarydevice uses the SIM2 phone number. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, in general, when a call is made in the main device,the SIM1 phone number is displayed to a receiver, and when a call ismade in the auxiliary device, the SIM2 phone number is displayed to areceiver. If a representative phone number display function isactivated, a sender may select a representative phone number and maytransmit a call when the call is transmitted from a main device or anauxiliary device. Or, the representative phone number may be set by auser in advance. In this case, when a call is made from a main device oran auxiliary device, a predetermined representative phone number may betransmitted as a sender's phone number.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a user usesthe SIM1 phone number as a representative phone number and transmits acall to the other party by using an auxiliary device, the transmissioncall is performed using SIM2. The other party receives a phone numbercorresponding to SIM2 and performs a call in a call network exchangebased call session. Herein, the call may refer to before a user's phonenumber is displayed on a screen of the other party's terminal. While auser starts a CS call with the other party by using SIM2, SIM1information may be delivered to the other party by using an SMS orpacket data. The other party's terminal may process the SIM1 phonenumber to be displayed on a screen in consideration that the currentreception call is received using the SIM2 phone number by receiving theSMS or packet data. The above-mentioned operation may be performed in anapplication relating to a call. Additionally, this operation may beperformed at a framework stage.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, SIM information maybe transmitted using an SMS. For example, the first electronic deviceand the second electronic device may use SIM1 and SIM2, respectively,and may be connected. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, when a user transmits a call to SIM2 (for example, the secondelectronic device), an application of the first electronic device or thesecond electronic device may recognize the corresponding fact. Accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, the second electronic devicetransmits an originating call to a network by using SIM2. The otherparty terminal may receive a paging message for this and may thenprovide a response (for example, a paging response).

Since the paging message is delivered from SIM2, it is recognized in themodem of the other party's modem that the call starts from SIM2. Auser's terminal (for example, the second electronic device) may transmitdata indicating that the currently starting call must be displayed asthe SIM1 phone number via an SMS as soon as starting an originatingcall. The other party's terminal may recognize that a call starting fromSIM2 recognized by the modem of the other party's terminal must bedisplayed as the SIM1 phone number based on this SMS message informationand may then display the SIM1 phone number on a screen of the otherparty's terminal. In this case, the SMS received by the other party'sterminal may be processed internally and its content or receptionnotification may not be provided to a user. According to an embodimentof the present invention, when an originating call proceeds with arepresentative number set by a user, an operation for transmitting theSMS may be omitted.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, SIM information maybe transmitted using Packet Switched (PS) data. According to anembodiment of the present invention, a user's phone application mayrecognize that a user transmits a call to SIM2. In this case, a user'sterminal (for example, the second electronic device) transmits anoriginating call to a network by using SIM2. The other party's terminalmay receive a paging message for this and may then provide a response(for example, a paging response).

Since the paging message is delivered from SIM2, it is recognized in themodem of the other party's modem that the call starts from SIM2. Auser's terminal (for example, the second electronic device) may transmitdata indicating that the currently starting call must be displayed withthe SIM1 phone number via PS data as soon as starting an originatingcall. This data may be delivered to the other party's terminal via aserver. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the servermay be a server managing a phone application. According to an embodimentof the present invention, the server may be a Simple Traversal of Userdatagram protocol through Network address translation (STUN) server. Theother party's terminal may recognize that a call starting from SIM2recognized by the modem of the other party's terminal must be displayedas the SIM1 phone number based on packet data received from a server andmay then display the SIM1 phone number on a screen of the other party'sterminal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, one of the sender'sSIM1 and SIM2 phone numbers may be selected as a representative numberand displayed. When it is assumed that a user having a main device andan auxiliary device transmits a call to the other party, a user's maindevice uses the SIM1 phone number and a user's auxiliary device uses theSIM2 phone number. According to an embodiment of the present invention,in general, when a call is made in the main device, the SIM1 phonenumber is displayed to a received, and when a call is made in theauxiliary device, the SIM2 phone number is displayed to a receiver. If arepresentative phone number display function is activated, a sender mayselect a representative phone number and may transmit a call when thecall is transmitted from a main device or an auxiliary device. Or, therepresentative phone number may be set by a user in advance. In thiscase, when a call is made from a main device or an auxiliary device, apredetermined representative phone number may be transmitted as asender's phone number.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the representativephone number may be stored in the other party's contact list. Only theSIM phone number may be registered in the other party's contact list.When a user makes a call to a main device, a CS call session proceeds byusing SIM1 and may transmit SIM2 information as an SMS or PS data. Sincethe SIM1 phone number is registered, the other party ignores the SIMinformation received from the SMS or PS data and may display the SIM1phone number on a screen. In an embodiment of the present invention,when a user makes a call to an auxiliary device, a CS call sessionproceeds by using SIM2 and may transmit SIM1 information as an SMS or PSdata. Since the SIM1 phone number is registered, the other party may notknow about a sender of the SIM2 phone number received via a CS session.However, if the SIM1 information received as an SMS or PS data isprocessed, it is recognized that the SIM1 and SIM2 are the same user.Thus, even when a call is received with the SIM2 phone number at themodem terminal, SIM1 stored in the contact list (e.g. phone book) may bedisplayed on the screen of the other party's terminal. The operation maybe performed in an application relating to a call. Additionally, theoperation may be performed at a framework stage.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronicdevice uses each phone number using SIM1 and SIM2, but may manage themas one user account and use it. For example, when one user uses a maindevice and an auxiliary device by using one account, devicescorresponding to the SIM1 and SIM2 phone numbers transmit/receive avoice call or an SMS by using the user account. That is, a voice call oran SMS is transmitted via a main device or an auxiliary device, the SIM1or SIM2 phone numbers are used in a CS network, but at the same time,data representing that a voice call or an SMS is transmitted from acorresponding user account is transmitted to a server via a PS network.At the reception side, a notification that a voice call or an SMS isincoming from a corresponding user account may be displayed on a screen.In this case, a representative number may be replaced with useridentification information (for example, name, ID, and so forth)included in a corresponding user account and may be displayed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a deviceincluding a SIM is mapped into a user account or a SIM ID/phone numberand interoperates, an event between devices may be shared. The event maybe a state between devices (for example, a battery, a modem, a network,sensor information, and so forth) or notification information. Forexample, when there is a plurality of electronic devices managed by oneuser account, when a battery power state is less than a predeterminedlevel in one electronic device, corresponding information may beprovided to the other electronic devices. Information for saving batterypower in addition to the provision of the information, for example,information on a deactivation available module in a corresponding deviceand other devices capable of replacing a function of the module when themodule is deactivated, may be provided together.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a user owns aplurality of electronic devices and all of the devices have SIMs, undera situation where the electronic devices are disposed at differentlocations and the transmission of a notification on the reception of acall or text is unavailable via a short-range communication (forexample, BT), if text or a call is received in one device, a method oftransmitting information on this to another device may be required.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a call or text maybe received by the first electronic device using SIM1. The receivedinformation may be retransmitted to the second electronic device usingSIM2 via packet switched data. When a notification on the information isprovided to the screen of the second electronic device, the secondelectronic device performs an additional operation such as replying to acall or text based on a user's input.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, information may bereceived by the first electronic device using SIM1 or an event mayoccur. The first electronic device may transmit the received informationto a cloud server. A user may register a plurality of electronic devicesin one account and the account may be registered in the cloud server.The cloud server may share the information event with a plurality ofdevices corresponding to the user account. Additionally, a period forperforming a synchronization operation with other devices using the sameuser account may be changed, or the fact that there is updateinformation may be provided to other devices.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a call isattempted to a user, if the call is attempted with a representativenumber, the call is attempted with a first phone number among aplurality of phone numbers included in a representative number. If aterminal corresponding to the first phone number among a plurality ofterminals that a user owns is OFF, a response that a correspondingterminal is OFF may be provided from a network. Once the response isreceived, an electronic device may attempt to make a call with a secondphone number included in the representative number. An electronic devicecorresponding to the first phone number, the second phone number, oreach phone number may be registered in one user account and managed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when an operationfor attempting to make a call with the second phone number differentfrom the first phone number is performed, a screen when an operation forattempting to make a call with the first phone number is performed maybe continuously displayed on the screen of the electronic device. Thatis, a user sending a call may not recognize the fact that an electronicdevice attempts to make a call with another user while changing a phonenumber.

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate a mode changing method when a connectionbetween electronic devices is disconnected according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

Before describing the method in relation to FIGS. 18A and 18B,embodiments of the present invention, in which when a first electronicdevice and a second electronic device are connected to each other, theconnection is disconnected, are described.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, each of the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device has user informationand may be communicable with a base station. According to an embodimentof the present invention, each of the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device may have the same or a different phone number.That is, according to the circumstances, they may have different phonenumbers or the same phone number.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when each of thefirst electronic device and the second electronic device has anadditional phone number, a user may have two numbers AAA-AAAA andBBB-BBBB. In the case that a user connects and uses the first electronicdevice and the second electronic device, when data is received by thetwo phone numbers, it is information for one user. The same method forreceiving data may be used for processing.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, while the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device are connected, anoperation where a user wants to use only the second electronic deviceinstead of the first electronic device may be determined. The operationmay be determined by a sensor unit of the second electronic device. Forexample, while connected, when movement of the second electronic deviceis detected and then the connection is disconnected, the firstelectronic device may determine that a user moves to use only the secondelectronic device. Then, while connected, the second electronic devicemay deliver its movement information to the first electronic device. Inthis case, when one of movement detection or disconnection occurs, thesecond electronic device may recognize that a user wants to use afunction of the second electronic device.

Each electronic device may have a unique number (for example, SIM numberor phone number). Once disconnected, a user may receive a call with aunique number by using each electronic device. In order to prevent this,when movement of a user's electronic device is detected and then theconnection is disconnected as mentioned above, the device that moved isdetermined as a portable device and the first electronic device mayrequest switching a call reception with the number AAA-AAAA to a callreception with BBB-BBBB from a base station. For example, USSD may bedelivered to a base station when movement is detected in an electronicdevice or wearing is detected (for example, in the case of a smartwatch), or according to a predetermined priority. Then, the firstelectronic device may set a corresponding call reception connection andthen may cut off a function of a corresponding communication unit.Additionally, a mode of an application installed in the secondelectronic device may be change.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a situationwhere each of the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice has one phone number and each device functions alone, when thefirst electronic device and the second device have one phone number(XXX-XXXX-XXXX) in a base station and a signal XXX-XXXX-XXXXA orXXX-XXXX-XXXXB is from a device, the base station may forward a callsignal to a corresponding device (e.g. not turn on simultaneously).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by distinguishing apairing state between the first electronic device and the secondelectronic device, a scenario for delivering phone number informationmay be assumed. For example, it is assumed that step 1 is a state inwhich pairing is in a strong electric field, step 2 is a state between astrong electric field and a weak electric field, and step 3 is a statein a weak electric field. When the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device have pairing in step 1, they share informationfor call reception. Then, in the case of pairing in step 2, each devicesets a priority on each number for each device and monitors whether step2 switches to step 1 or step 3. Then, during pairing in step 3, phonenumber information with a priority stored in each device is deletedafter a predetermined time. The pairing in step 3 may be in a pairingdisconnected state.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in relation to adata priority account instead of call reception, when the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device are paired andoperate separately, a user must receive the notification via a devicecurrently in use. When an application having the same accountinformation as the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice is used, as the first electronic device and the second electronicdevice are paired or operate separately, a data processing method of acorresponding application may vary.

Again, referring to FIGS. 18A and 18B, each of the first electronicdevice 1810 and the second electronic device 1820 may install aspecified application (for example, an app X) and each app may share thesame user account.

Referring to FIG. 18A, when the first electronic device 1810 and thesecond electronic device 1820 are paired, the second electronic device1820 receives and processes an event that the first electronic device1810 receives from a base station or wireless network. Then, an Xapplication installed in the second electronic device 1820 operates in aB mode for receiving information from the X application of the firstelectronic device 1810.

Referring to FIG. 18B, it is shown that a mode change of the Xapplication occurs when the first electronic device 1810 and the secondelectronic device 1820 operate independently. FIG. 18B illustrates thatthe X application operates in the second electronic device when thefirst electronic device and the second electronic device are paired.FIG. 18B illustrates that the first electronic device changes a mode ofthe X application in the second electronic device when the firstelectronic device and the second electronic device are disconnected (forexample, a distance between the first electronic device 1810 and thesecond electronic device 1820 is increased or they are disconnected).Whether to change a mode may be determined based on a pairing signal andwhen pairing is disconnected and then call forwarding is set to a basestation, a mode change command may be delivered to a correspondingserver of the X application. During a mode change, the second electronicdevice receives information on the X application alone and operates inan independent mode of the X application. Then, as the X application ofthe second electronic device changes into A mode, the electronic device1820 processes an event received from a base station or a wirelessnetwork and provides it to a user.

The SIM included in interoperating devices may support call/data serviceor may support data service but not call service. An InternationalMobile Station Identity (IMSI) and Mobile Station international ISDN(MSISDN) number may be allocated to the SIM supporting a call. A SIMsupporting a call or a SIM not supporting a call may exchange an MSISDNand may then switch call service. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, when a device including a SIM supporting a callcannot use a modem, it may deliver an MSISDN and information relatingthereto to a device using a device and may then handover call service.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method ofrelaying a communication signal in the first electronic device mayinclude receiving a message including identification information on theother party's terminal from the second electronic device, connecting afirst communication session with the second electronic device,connecting a second communication session with the other party'sterminal by using the identification information, generating a newcommunication session between the second electronic device and the otherparty's terminal based on the first communication session and the secondcommunication session, and terminating the first communication sessionand the second communication session.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, connecting theother party's terminal and the second communication session may beperformed by conference call or multi-party call provided fromcommunication carriers.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method ofrelaying a communication signal in the first electronic device mayinclude receiving a message used for call transmission from the secondelectronic device, transmitting the call to the other party's terminalbased on the message, generating a communication session between thesecond electronic device and the other party's terminal, and terminatinga call of the first electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the calltransmission may transmit a transmission number as identificationinformation on the second electronic device while maintaining the formatof the received message.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the format of themessage may correspond to the format of a message used for calltransmission from a modem of the first electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method ofattempting a call in an electronic device may include attempting a callwith a first phone number and attempting a call with a second phonenumber that is different from the first phone number in response to whenan electronic device corresponding to the first phone number is OFF.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronicdevice corresponding to each of the first phone number and the secondphone number may be an electronic device registered in the same useraccount.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when making a callwith the second phone number that is different from the first phonenumber, a screen when attempting to make a call with the first phonenumber may be continuously displayed on the screen of the electronicdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when activityconcerning a main electronic device and an auxiliary electronic deviceincreases due to the activation of a wearable device and thus there areoverlapping resources between devices, by using the resources properly,efficient resource management and seamless services between devices maybe provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by performing afunction of a component operating redundantly, a component in anelectronic device having less remaining battery power, or a component inan electronic device having lower performance than a component inanother electronic device, it is possible to increase the efficiency offunction performance, power management, and resource management.

Additionally, according to an embodiment of the present invention, whenthe activity of a main electronic device and an auxiliary electronicdevice increase due to the activation of a wearable device and thusthere are overlapping resources between devices, by using the resourcesproperly, efficient resource management and seamless services betweendevices may be provided.

The above embodiments of the present invention are illustrative and notlimitative. Various alternatives and equivalents are possible. Theinvention is not limited by the steps describe herein. Nor is theinvention limited to any specific type of semiconductor device. Forexample, the present invention may be implemented in a Dynamic RandomAccess Memory (DRAM) device or non-volatile memory device. Otheradditions, subtractions, or modifications are obvious in view of thepresent disclosure and are intended to fall within the scope of thepresent invention, as defined by the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable communication device comprising: afirst communication circuitry to perform a short-range communication; asecond communication circuitry to perform a cellular communication; anda processor configured to: establish, via the first communicationcircuitry, a communication connection with a first external device;deactivate a telephone call function using the second communicationcircuitry, based at least in part on a determination that the portablecommunication device is communicatively coupled with the first externaldevice via the communication connection and that a cellularcommunication circuitry of the first external device is available; andwhile the telephone call function using the second communicationcircuitry is deactivated, perform a telephone call with respect to asecond external device using the communication connection and a cellularcommunication between the first external device and the second externaldevice, wherein the cellular communication is established via thecellular communication circuitry of the first external device.
 2. Theportable communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: activate the telephone call function using thesecond communication circuitry, based at least in part on adetermination that the portable communication device is notcommunicatively coupled with the first external device via thecommunication connection or the cellular communication circuitry of thefirst external device is unavailable; and while the telephone callfunction using the second communication circuitry is activated, performa telephone call with respect to a second external device using acellular communication between the portable communication device and thesecond external device, wherein the cellular communication isestablished via the second communication circuitry of the portablecommunication device.
 3. The portable communication device of claim 1,further comprising a microphone, and wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: as at least part of performing the telephone call,transmit a signal to the first external device via the communicationconnection such that a call session corresponding to the telephone callis to be established between the first external device and the secondexternal device, and transmit, to the first external device via thecommunication connection, voice data corresponding to a voice inputbeing received with respect to the telephone call via the microphone. 4.The portable communication device of claim 1, further comprising acamera, and wherein the processor is further configured to: as at leastpart of performing the telephone call, transmit to the first externaldevice via the communication connection, video data being obtained withrespect to the telephone call via the camera.
 5. The portablecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to perform the telephone call using a phone number of thefirst external device.
 6. The portable communication device of claim 1,wherein the processor is further configured to: activate the telephonecall function using the second communication circuitry based at least inpart on a determination that the communication connection is released.7. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the processoris further configured to: receive information related to a power stateof the first external device from the first external device via thecommunication connection; and activate the telephone call function usingthe second communication circuitry based at least in part on adetermination that the power state of the first external devicecorresponds to a specified condition.
 8. The portable communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:identify a state of the communication connection using the firstcommunication circuitry; and activate the telephone call function usingthe second communication circuitry, based at least in part on adetermination that the state of the communication connection correspondsto a specified condition.
 9. The portable communication device of claim8, wherein the processor is further configured to: identify that thestate of the communication connection is using the first communicationcircuitry based at least in part on an intensity of another signalreceived from the first external device.
 10. The portable communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:activate the telephone call function using the second communicationcircuitry, when the communication connection between the portablecommunication device and the first external device fails.
 11. Theportable communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: based at least in part on a determination thatthe communication connection the portable communication device and thefirst external device is disconnected, activate the telephone callfunction using the second communication circuitry; and while thetelephone call function using the second communication circuitry isactivated, perform the portable communication device with respect to asecond external device using a cellular communication between theportable communication device and the second external device, whereinthe cellular communication is established via the second communicationcircuitry of the wearable device.
 12. A portable communication devicecomprising: a touchscreen display; a first communication circuitry toperform a short-range communication; a second communication circuitry toperform a cellular communication; and a processor configured to:establish, via the first communication circuitry, a communicationconnection with a first external device; based at least in part on adetermination that the portable communication device is communicativelycoupled with the first external device via the communication connection,transmit a first signal to the first external device via thecommunication connection such that a telephone call function usingcellular communication circuitry of the first external device is to bedeactivated based at least in part on the first signal; while thetelephone call function using the cellular communication circuitry ofthe first external device is deactivated, receive, from the firstexternal device via the first communication circuitry, a second signalto make an outgoing call from the first external device to a secondexternal device; and establish, using the second communicationcircuitry, a call session with respect to the second external devicesuch that the outgoing call is to be performed based at least in part onthe call session.
 13. The portable communication device of claim 12,wherein the processor is further configured to: display a graphical userinterface corresponding to the outgoing call via the touchscreendisplay.
 14. The portable communication device of claim 12, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: transmit, to the second externaldevice via the call session, voice data corresponding to a voice inputbeing received with respect to the outgoing call via a microphone of thefirst external device.
 15. The portable communication device of claim12, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit, to thefirst external device via the communication connection, voice data beingreceived with respect to the outgoing call from the second externaldevice via the call session.
 16. The portable communication device ofclaim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit tothe second external device via the call session, video data beingobtained with respect to the outgoing call via a camera of the firstexternal device.
 17. The portable communication device of claim 12,wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit, to the firstexternal device via the communication connection, video data beingreceived with respect to the outgoing call from the second externaldevice via the call session.
 18. The portable communication device ofclaim 12, further comprising memory to store a phone number of theportable communication device, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: establish the call session based at least in part on thephone number of the portable communication device.
 19. The portablecommunication device of claim 12, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: identify a state of a power of the portable communicationdevice; and activate the telephone call function using the cellularcommunication circuitry of the first external device based at least inpart on a determination that the state of the power corresponds to aspecified condition.
 20. The portable communication device of claim 12,wherein the processor is further configured to: identify a state of thecommunication connection using the first communication circuitry; andactivate the telephone call function using the cellular communicationcircuitry of the first external device based at least in part on adetermination that the state of the communication connection correspondsto a specified condition.
 21. A system for portable communicationcomprising: a portable device comprising: a first communicationcircuitry to perform short-range communication; a second communicationcircuitry to perform cellular communication; and a processor configuredto establish, via the first communication circuitry, a communicationconnection with a wearable device; and the wearable device comprising: athird communication circuitry to perform short-range communication; afourth communication circuitry to perform cellular communication; and aprocessor configured to: establish, via the third communicationcircuitry, the communication connection with the portable device;deactivate a telephone call function using the fourth communicationcircuitry of the wearable device, based at least in part on adetermination that the wearable device is communicatively coupled withthe portable device via the communication connection; and based at leastin part on a determination that the communication connection between thewearable device and the portable device is established, perform atelephone call with respect to an external device using thecommunication connection and a cellular communication between theportable device and the external device, wherein the cellularcommunication is established via the second communication circuitry ofthe portable device.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processorof the portable device is further configured to display an object basedon a determination that the telephone call is performed by the wearabledevice.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein: the portable device furthercomprises a first memory configured to store first identificationinformation; the wearable device further comprises a second memoryconfigured to store second identification information; and the processorof the wearable device is further configured to transmit the secondidentification information to the portable device when performing thetelephone call.
 24. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor of thewearable device is further configured to activate the telephone callfunction using the fourth communication circuitry of the wearable devicewhen the communication connection between the wearable device and theportable device fails.
 25. The system of claim 21, wherein the processorof the wearable device is further configured to: based at least in parton a determination that the communication connection between thewearable device and the portable device is disconnected, activate thetelephone call function using the fourth communication circuitry of thewearable device; and while the telephone call function using the fourthcommunication circuitry is activated, perform a telephone call withrespect to an external device using a cellular communication between thewearable device and the external device, wherein the cellularcommunication is established via the fourth communication circuitry ofthe wearable device.
 26. A portable communication device comprising: afirst communication circuitry to perform a short-range communication; asecond communication circuitry to perform a cellular communication; anda processor configured to: establish, via the first communicationcircuitry, a communication connection with a first external device;based on a first determination that the portable communication device iscommunicatively coupled with the first external device via theestablished communication connection, perform a telephone call withrespect to a second external device using the established communicationconnection and a cellular communication between the first externaldevice and the second external device, wherein the cellularcommunication is established via the cellular communication circuitry ofthe first external device; and based on a second determination that theportable communication device is not communicatively coupled with thefirst external device via the established communication connection,perform the telephone call with respect to the second external deviceusing a cellular communication between the portable communication deviceand the second external device, wherein the cellular communication isestablished via the second communication circuitry of the portablecommunication device.
 27. The portable communication device of claim 26,wherein the processor is further configured to: based on the firstdetermination, deactivate a telephone call function using the secondcommunication circuitry.
 28. The portable communication device of claim26, wherein the first determination further comprises a determinationregarding whether the cellular communication circuitry of the firstexternal device is available.
 29. The portable communication device ofclaim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to: based on thesecond determination, activate the telephone call function using thesecond communication circuitry.
 30. The portable communication device ofclaim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to: based on athird determination that the cellular communication circuitry of thefirst external device is unavailable, perform the telephone call withrespect to the second external device using a cellular communicationbetween the portable communication device and the second externaldevice, wherein the cellular communication is established via the secondcommunication circuitry of the portable communication device.